47 pages • 1 hour read
Agatha ChristieThe Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1926A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Literary Context: The Structure of Detective Fiction
Detective fiction often employs a structure that allows the reader to follow the flow of the narrative through complex plot developments. The structure involves four parts and a midway change, with the sections often called the Introduction, the Discovery, the Midpoint, the Funnel, and the Reveal. Christie was a pioneer and master of this structure.
The Introduction is the section in which the author establishes the characters and setting. The author will introduce the reader to the primary characters, including the victim, the suspects, the detective, and the community where the crime occurs. In The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, the Introduction comprises the first five chapters leading up to the discovery of Ackroyd’s body.
The Discovery phase is the first half of the detective’s investigation. In this phase, the detective conducts the first interviews and gathers as much information about the crime as possible. There will be clues and red herrings that the reader can return to and see how it all leads to the resolution. This section includes Chapters 5 through 11, which describe Poirot and his initial investigation.
The Midpoint is the moment when the detective comes up short. The clues are not adding up, and the case seems unsolvable. The criminal may be about to get away because the detective lacks crucial evidence. However, something gets the detective back on the scent. The Midpoint of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is Chapter 12.
The third section is the Funnel, which reframes the investigation. Here, the detective looks at the evidence from a different angle. They will start posing new questions to the suspects and thinking of things in different ways. They will realize they had been putting things together incorrectly. They will find themselves on the right track and closing in on the Reveal. In this novel, Chapters 13 to 22 comprise the Funnel.
The final phase is the Reveal. The detective puts all the pieces together, calls together the suspects, and confronts them all with the facts of the case. They make a formal accusation and show the trail of clues that brought them to their conclusion. The guilty party then receives the justice coming to them, and the case is closed. Chapters 23 to 27 contain the Reveal in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
Authorial Context: Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie is one of the best-selling authors of all time, beaten only by the Bible and William Shakespeare. She continues to make best-seller lists worldwide.
Christie’s father homeschooled her, and she taught herself to read at age five. Initially, she wrote in her free time to break the boredom and monotony of her days; however, during World War I, she began to pursue publication. Her first six novels were rejected by publishers, but her luck changed in 1920 with the publication of The Mysterious Affair at Styles featuring detective Hercule Poirot. She also worked a day job at a dispensary, where she became well acquainted with medicines and poisons, which assisted her ability to portray these topics in her novels. From this point, Christie published at a furious pace of one or two novels a year, in addition to several story collections and successful plays, until her death in 1976. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was her sixth published novel and the third featuring Hercule Poirot.
The start of her career was not smooth. Just as her first novels started to take off, her mother died, and her first husband left her. Between the two events, she struggled to find the motivation to write the next novel that her publisher wanted. Infamously, Christie disappeared from her family (including her young daughter) for 11 days after her husband announced his intention to leave her. She was eventually found living under a false name in a hotel nearly 200 miles from her home. To this day, scholars debate whether this incident was revenge against her husband, a psychological breakdown, a publicity stunt, or something else. Her life turned around in 1928 when she achieved one of her life goals—travel on the Orient Express. She began to travel more and met the man who would become her second husband—Max Mallowan. He encouraged her pursuits wholeheartedly, and they remained married until her death.
During World War II, Christie continued to write and to volunteer at a local dispensary where she applied her extensive knowledge of medicines. For a time, she wrote under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott until someone discovered her identity. Her final public appearance was at the 1974 premiere of Murder on the Orient Express, where she said the movie was good, though Poirot’s mustaches were not impressive enough.
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