Analysis of Elements of Plot in Agatha Christie's 'Towards Zero'.
ABSTRACT
Dalam tugas akhir ini saya membahas sebuah novel berjudul Towards
Zero yang ditulis oleh Agatha Christie. Buku ini menceritakan tentang misteri
pembunuhan yang terjadi di sebuah reuni keluarga. Seorang detektif bernama
Battle ditugaskan membantu pihak kepolisian untuk memecahkan teka-teki kasus
pembunuhan tersebut. Seiring dengan berjalannya cerita, perlahan-lahan sang
detektif mulai menemukan titik terang melalui proses investigasi yang cukup
rumit dan membingungkan.
Setelah membaca novel tersebut, penulis memutuskan hal penting yang
akan dibahas dalam tesis ini adalah unsur-unsur plot, yaitu: suspense, surprise dan
artistic unity. Penulis memutuskan untuk menganalisis hubungan antara suspense
dan surprise dan bagaimana keduanya terhubung sehingga membentuk sebuah
artistic unity yang masuk akal sehingga dapat dipercaya oleh pembaca.
Kesimpulannya, keberhasilan novel ini tidak lain terletak pada peranan
Agatha Christie sebagai penulis novel ini dalam meningkatkan rasa keingintahuan
pembaca melalui misteri-misteri yang terus berlangsung dalam proses pemecahan
misteri kasus pembunuhan tersebut serta fakta-fakta mengejutkan yang terungkap
di akhir cerita.
iii
Maranatha Christian University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....................................................................................i
TABLE OF CONTENTS...................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study..............................................................................1
Statement of the Problem .............................................................................3
Purpose of the Study ....................................................................................3
Method of Research .....................................................................................3
Organization of the Thesis ...........................................................................4
CHAPTER TWO: ANALYSIS OF ELEMENTS OF PLOT OF AGATHA
CHRISTIE’S TOWARDS ZERO ...............................................................5
CHAPTER THREE: CONCLUSION ................................................................19
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................23
APPENDICES:
Synopsis of Towards Zero .........................................................................24
Biography of Agatha Christie ....................................................................25
iv
Maranatha Christian University
APPENDICES
Summary of Agatha Christie’s Towards Zero
The story is about a family reunion which is held at Gull’s Point. The
reunion is attended by six people, namely Nevile Strange, his wife Kay Mortimer,
Audrey, who is Nevile Strange’s former wife, Ted Latimer, who is Kay’s best
friend, Thomas Royde and Mary Aldin. The owner of the Gull’s Point is Lady
Tressilian, who is also Nevile Strange’s surrogate mother. One morning, Lady
Tressillian is found to be slained in her room. The police come together with a
smart-briliant detective, Superintendent Battle. The first investigation makes the
police suspect Nevile Strange because all the evidences lead him to be the
murderer. His motive is expected to be a case of inheritance. But then detective
Battle finds that such motive does not suit Mr. Strange because as a rich athlete, it
is impossible for him to murder someone for money. Then, detective Battle
decides to do the investigation once again. Finally, after several difficult
investigations which confuse him, Mr. Battle successfully reveals the murder
case. The real culprit is Nevile Strange. Battle says that in the begining Mr.
Strange deliberately makes himself appear to be framed by someone else. He
wants the police and detective to suspect his ex-wife, Audrey. His motive to kill
Lady Tressilian is to take revenge on Audrey, who has actually divorced him.
24
Biography of Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie was born on 15 September 1890 in Torquay, a town in
England. Her real name is Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller. She was born in a highclass family. Her father was an American stockbroker with good income, while
her mother was a daughter of an English army captain. Her father died when she
was eleven years old. She never went to school. She was educated by her mother
and sometimes got an educational tutor in her house. Her mother taught her to
write short stories and poems. Agatha spent a lot of time alone because of the
great age difference between her and her sister’s age, about ten years. Her
moments of solitude increased her imagination ability.
Agatha started her first detective novel when she was 25 years old. Her
first work is titled The Mysterious Affair at Styles. The year 1930 is the most
productive period for her because in this year she wrote many novels. She made
27 novels, which consist of 14 Hercule Poirot novels, 2 Jane Marple novels and 4
non-serial mystery novels. During the World War II, she wrote 2 novels, Curatin
(1975) and Sleeping Murder (1976), which were published after her death.
Christie was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1956.
Such a reward related to her services as a military nurse. She died in Wallingford,
Oxfordshire, when she was 85 years old, in 12 January 1976.
Source : “Agatha Christie Biography”
25
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of The Study
Agatha Christie is a British author in the 20th century who is famous for
her novels. She is also famous for her plays, such as The Mousetrap, and short
stories, such as The Submarine Plans and The Second Gong. She is considered to
be one of the most famous murder mystery writers. She is clever at making stories
and unforgettable detective characters. Agatha Christie has made a great
contribution to the world of literature, especially in the genre of detective story.
Most of her works have been filmed and the stories of her two famous
detective characters, Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, have been made into a
serial in television and radio versions. Miss Marple looks like an ordinary old
woman. She does not like a detective at all, yet with her ability to observe human
nature, she can solve a murder case with her shrewd observation.
Hercule Poirot is a Belgian man who has interesting physical appearance
and also eccentric manners. His first appearance is in Christie’s first book,
Mysterious Affair at Styles. It is difficult for someone to argue with him for he has
strong character. His famous tool in identifying murder case is called “grey cells.”
He always finishes each case with a dramatic denouement.
1
Maranatha Christian University
In this thesis, I would like to analyse one of the many world famous
Christie’s books, Towards Zero. This novel, which is a whodunit story, was
written in 1944. Whodunit story is “a novel or drama concerning a crime (usually
a murder) in which a detective follows clues to determine the perpetrator” (“whodun-it”). Such type of story makes the readers want to keep reading because they
cannot find out who the murderer is until the end of the story. In this novel,
Christie does not use Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple as the detective (Towards
Zero).
This novel presents a new detective named Battle. Actually, Christie
does not lose her touch on creating good murder mystery story. She beautifully
forms a story that discusses separately how each character has connection to the
others, which brings them to be involved in a mysterious murder. She is able to
create an atmosphere that makes the readers continue to guess until the end who is
likely to be the murderer.
I am going to analyse the elements of plot, namely suspense, surprise and
artistic unity. According to Laurence Perrine, suspense is “the quality in a story
that makes readers ask ‘what’s going to happen next?’ or ‘How will this turn out?’
and impels them to read on to find the answers to these questions”(45). The next
is surprise, which is “proportional to the unexpectedness of what happens; it
becomes pronounced when the story departs radically from our expectation. In the
short story such radical departure is most often found in a surprise ending: one
that reveals a sudden new turn or twist” (47). The last is the artistic unity, which
is “the condition of a successfull literary work whereby all of its elements work
2
Maranatha Christian University
together for the achievement of its central purpose where the suspense and
surprise are acceptable and believable for readers” (“Artistic Unity”).
Statement of The Problem
The problems in this study are formulated in the following questions:
1. Which parts of the story act as suspense in the novel?
2. Which parts of the story act as a surprise in the novel?
3. How is the artistic unity presented in the novel?
Purpose of The Study
The analysis is conducted with the following purposes:
1. To show parts of the story which act as suspense in the novel.
2. To show parts of the story which act as surprise in the novel.
3. To show how the artistic unity is presented in the novel.
Method of Research
In conducting the study, I used library research. First, I read Agatha
Christie’s Towards Zero as the primary text. Then, I also read as well as compiled
some information from the Internet to support my analysis of suspense, surprise
and artistic unity of the novel and I made some conclusions of my analysis.
Finally, I wrote the report in this thesis.
3
Maranatha Christian University
Organization of The Thesis
This thesis consists of three chapters, which are preceded by the
Acknowledgements, Table of Contents and Abstract. The first chapter is the
Introduction, which consists of Background of the Study, Statement of the
Problems, Purpose of the Study, Method of Research, and Organization of the
Thesis. The second chapter is the Analysis of Elements of Plot in Agatha
Christie’s Towards Zero. The third chapter is the Conclusion. The thesis ends with
the Bibliography and the Appendices, which contain the synopsis of the novel and
the biography of the author.
4
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER THREE
CONCLUSION
After I finished reading and analysing the novel, I conclude that Agatha
Christie is very clever in creating such a good murder mystery story. She creates a
story that is full of mystery and also a good surprise ending. In addition to that,
she is very good at raising the readers’ tension and curiosity. This makes the story
have good elements of plot.
After analysing the elements of plot, I am of the opinion that this book has
four suspenses as the important part to build the readers’ tension. The first
suspense is when the author tells that there is someone who is writing a scheme of
a murder that will be executed in September. Furthermore, the readers know that
September is the time the reunion will be held in Gull’s Point. The murder scheme
makes the readers question about who the murderer is and who is going to be the
victim of this murder plan.
The second suspense is when Lady Tressilian is found dead. The readers
may expect the possible victim is one of three characters who are involved in a
major conflict about divorce. They are Nevile Strange, Audrey, and Kay. When
19
Maranatha Christian University
the readers find out that the victim is Lady Tressilian, the readers may think that
the death of Lady Tressilian may have connection with the conflict yet the reason
why she becomes the victim makes the readers question about the motive of the
the murderer to kill her. This event rises the reader’s tension and curiosity; the
readers will read further to reveal the mystery.
The third suspense is when the police find out that the fingerprints on the
niblick used to kill Lady Tressilian belongs to Nevile Strange and Mr. Strange is
also reported to be the last person who meets her before she dies and both of them
has a quarrel at that time. Then, detective Battle decides to do more investigations
to make sure of his suspicion. This situation rises a question in the readers’ mind
on whether it is true that Mr. Strange is the murderer.
The fourth suspense is when the readers are led to suspect Audrey by the
dialogue between her and Andrew Mac Whirter, when he prevents Audrey from
attempting suicide. Audrey tries to jump off the same cliff as the one where he
himself tried to commit suicide a year ago. Audrey is reported to have said that
she is afraid of being hanged. Then, during the several deeper investigations done
by the detective, he finds out that the murderer could be a left-handed person as he
finds the real tool used to kill Lady Tressilian has left-handed fingerprints on it. In
fact, the only left-handed person who attends the reunion is Audrey. Her motive is
expected to be the conflict about divorce. The fact that Audrey tries to commit
suicide and the investigation done by the detective lead the readers to think that
Audrey may have a bitter feeling towards Nevile Strange and she wants to take
revenge on him because he has left her for Kay, a woman who is younger and
20
Maranatha Christian University
more beautiful than her. As a result, the readers wonder whether or not Audrey is
the murderer of Lady Tressilian.
Another important element of this novel is surprise. In my own opinion,
the third and the fourth surprises are good as both of them reveal the mystery of
the murder case as a whole. The third surprise reveals the real murderer and the
motive of the murder.
The third surprise answers the first and the fourth suspense, when the
detective explains about the scheme of the murder plan and how the murder is
done. The scheme of the murder is very nicely planned. In order to make the
murder plan succeed, good physical strength is required. This brings detective
Battle to determine that Nevile Strange is the murderer for he is a famous athlete
with good physical strength.
The fourth surprise is when detective Battle finds out that the motive for
Mr. Strange to kill his own surrogate mother is to make Audrey, his ex-wife,
suspected as the murderer. He does such a crime because he wants to take revenge
on his former wife, Audrey, who has left him for another man.
As for the artistic unity, I find that all suspense is answered by the
surprise. Each of them has plausibility that can be accepted by the readers. The
readers in the begining is led to find out about the murder which according to the
narrator will happen in September, right when the reunion is held. The readers’
curiosity is answered when the murder finally happens. Nevile Strange, who has a
bitter feeling towards his ex-wife, manages to run a scheme of murder in order to
frame his ex-wife, Audrey, who is the main target of this murder plan. She is
planned to be suspected as the culprit of the murder. Mr. Strange does not kill her
21
Maranatha Christian University
directly though he really hates her because he thinks that framing Audrey to be a
criminal who has to deal with the punishment of the court will make his ex-wife
suffer more than killing her directly. He chooses his own surrogate mother to be
the victim to cover his crime. He believes it will make everyone think that it
sounds like something impossible for a person to kill someone who has been like
a mother to him. Mr Strange makes such a clever plan to put himself firstly
suspected by making all the evidences lead to him blatantly to create an image
that someone else deliberately does that to frame him. Then, his final purpose is to
make the suspicion turn to Audrey as the one who wants to frame him.
In my opinion, Agatha Christie’s success in writing this novel has come
from the interesting subject of the novel and the good development of the plot,
especially by using suspense and surprise. Christie has successfully written such a
good story as the answers of the mystery are held back until the end of the story in
order to raise the readers’ tension and curiosity. She provides so many events to
mislead the readers in order to make a surprising ending which is not expected by
the readers.
22
Maranatha Christian University
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Text :
Christie, Agatha. Towards Zero. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1972.
Print.
References :
“Agatha Christie Biography.” Biography Online. Web. 2010. 21 April. 2013.
Perrine, Laurence. Story and Structure: Fourth Edition. New York. Harcourt
Brace Javanovich, Inc, 1959. Print.
“Who-dun-it.” The Free Dictionary. 2005. Web. 25 September. 2013.
“Artistic Unity.” Glossary definition. Web. 4 June. 2014.
“Poirot.” Agatha Christie. Web. 27 July. 2014.
“Miss Marple.” Agatha Christie. Web. 27 July. 2014.
“Towards Zero.” Agatha Christie. Web. 27 July. 2014.
23
Maranatha Christian University
Dalam tugas akhir ini saya membahas sebuah novel berjudul Towards
Zero yang ditulis oleh Agatha Christie. Buku ini menceritakan tentang misteri
pembunuhan yang terjadi di sebuah reuni keluarga. Seorang detektif bernama
Battle ditugaskan membantu pihak kepolisian untuk memecahkan teka-teki kasus
pembunuhan tersebut. Seiring dengan berjalannya cerita, perlahan-lahan sang
detektif mulai menemukan titik terang melalui proses investigasi yang cukup
rumit dan membingungkan.
Setelah membaca novel tersebut, penulis memutuskan hal penting yang
akan dibahas dalam tesis ini adalah unsur-unsur plot, yaitu: suspense, surprise dan
artistic unity. Penulis memutuskan untuk menganalisis hubungan antara suspense
dan surprise dan bagaimana keduanya terhubung sehingga membentuk sebuah
artistic unity yang masuk akal sehingga dapat dipercaya oleh pembaca.
Kesimpulannya, keberhasilan novel ini tidak lain terletak pada peranan
Agatha Christie sebagai penulis novel ini dalam meningkatkan rasa keingintahuan
pembaca melalui misteri-misteri yang terus berlangsung dalam proses pemecahan
misteri kasus pembunuhan tersebut serta fakta-fakta mengejutkan yang terungkap
di akhir cerita.
iii
Maranatha Christian University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....................................................................................i
TABLE OF CONTENTS...................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study..............................................................................1
Statement of the Problem .............................................................................3
Purpose of the Study ....................................................................................3
Method of Research .....................................................................................3
Organization of the Thesis ...........................................................................4
CHAPTER TWO: ANALYSIS OF ELEMENTS OF PLOT OF AGATHA
CHRISTIE’S TOWARDS ZERO ...............................................................5
CHAPTER THREE: CONCLUSION ................................................................19
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................23
APPENDICES:
Synopsis of Towards Zero .........................................................................24
Biography of Agatha Christie ....................................................................25
iv
Maranatha Christian University
APPENDICES
Summary of Agatha Christie’s Towards Zero
The story is about a family reunion which is held at Gull’s Point. The
reunion is attended by six people, namely Nevile Strange, his wife Kay Mortimer,
Audrey, who is Nevile Strange’s former wife, Ted Latimer, who is Kay’s best
friend, Thomas Royde and Mary Aldin. The owner of the Gull’s Point is Lady
Tressilian, who is also Nevile Strange’s surrogate mother. One morning, Lady
Tressillian is found to be slained in her room. The police come together with a
smart-briliant detective, Superintendent Battle. The first investigation makes the
police suspect Nevile Strange because all the evidences lead him to be the
murderer. His motive is expected to be a case of inheritance. But then detective
Battle finds that such motive does not suit Mr. Strange because as a rich athlete, it
is impossible for him to murder someone for money. Then, detective Battle
decides to do the investigation once again. Finally, after several difficult
investigations which confuse him, Mr. Battle successfully reveals the murder
case. The real culprit is Nevile Strange. Battle says that in the begining Mr.
Strange deliberately makes himself appear to be framed by someone else. He
wants the police and detective to suspect his ex-wife, Audrey. His motive to kill
Lady Tressilian is to take revenge on Audrey, who has actually divorced him.
24
Biography of Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie was born on 15 September 1890 in Torquay, a town in
England. Her real name is Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller. She was born in a highclass family. Her father was an American stockbroker with good income, while
her mother was a daughter of an English army captain. Her father died when she
was eleven years old. She never went to school. She was educated by her mother
and sometimes got an educational tutor in her house. Her mother taught her to
write short stories and poems. Agatha spent a lot of time alone because of the
great age difference between her and her sister’s age, about ten years. Her
moments of solitude increased her imagination ability.
Agatha started her first detective novel when she was 25 years old. Her
first work is titled The Mysterious Affair at Styles. The year 1930 is the most
productive period for her because in this year she wrote many novels. She made
27 novels, which consist of 14 Hercule Poirot novels, 2 Jane Marple novels and 4
non-serial mystery novels. During the World War II, she wrote 2 novels, Curatin
(1975) and Sleeping Murder (1976), which were published after her death.
Christie was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1956.
Such a reward related to her services as a military nurse. She died in Wallingford,
Oxfordshire, when she was 85 years old, in 12 January 1976.
Source : “Agatha Christie Biography”
25
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of The Study
Agatha Christie is a British author in the 20th century who is famous for
her novels. She is also famous for her plays, such as The Mousetrap, and short
stories, such as The Submarine Plans and The Second Gong. She is considered to
be one of the most famous murder mystery writers. She is clever at making stories
and unforgettable detective characters. Agatha Christie has made a great
contribution to the world of literature, especially in the genre of detective story.
Most of her works have been filmed and the stories of her two famous
detective characters, Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, have been made into a
serial in television and radio versions. Miss Marple looks like an ordinary old
woman. She does not like a detective at all, yet with her ability to observe human
nature, she can solve a murder case with her shrewd observation.
Hercule Poirot is a Belgian man who has interesting physical appearance
and also eccentric manners. His first appearance is in Christie’s first book,
Mysterious Affair at Styles. It is difficult for someone to argue with him for he has
strong character. His famous tool in identifying murder case is called “grey cells.”
He always finishes each case with a dramatic denouement.
1
Maranatha Christian University
In this thesis, I would like to analyse one of the many world famous
Christie’s books, Towards Zero. This novel, which is a whodunit story, was
written in 1944. Whodunit story is “a novel or drama concerning a crime (usually
a murder) in which a detective follows clues to determine the perpetrator” (“whodun-it”). Such type of story makes the readers want to keep reading because they
cannot find out who the murderer is until the end of the story. In this novel,
Christie does not use Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple as the detective (Towards
Zero).
This novel presents a new detective named Battle. Actually, Christie
does not lose her touch on creating good murder mystery story. She beautifully
forms a story that discusses separately how each character has connection to the
others, which brings them to be involved in a mysterious murder. She is able to
create an atmosphere that makes the readers continue to guess until the end who is
likely to be the murderer.
I am going to analyse the elements of plot, namely suspense, surprise and
artistic unity. According to Laurence Perrine, suspense is “the quality in a story
that makes readers ask ‘what’s going to happen next?’ or ‘How will this turn out?’
and impels them to read on to find the answers to these questions”(45). The next
is surprise, which is “proportional to the unexpectedness of what happens; it
becomes pronounced when the story departs radically from our expectation. In the
short story such radical departure is most often found in a surprise ending: one
that reveals a sudden new turn or twist” (47). The last is the artistic unity, which
is “the condition of a successfull literary work whereby all of its elements work
2
Maranatha Christian University
together for the achievement of its central purpose where the suspense and
surprise are acceptable and believable for readers” (“Artistic Unity”).
Statement of The Problem
The problems in this study are formulated in the following questions:
1. Which parts of the story act as suspense in the novel?
2. Which parts of the story act as a surprise in the novel?
3. How is the artistic unity presented in the novel?
Purpose of The Study
The analysis is conducted with the following purposes:
1. To show parts of the story which act as suspense in the novel.
2. To show parts of the story which act as surprise in the novel.
3. To show how the artistic unity is presented in the novel.
Method of Research
In conducting the study, I used library research. First, I read Agatha
Christie’s Towards Zero as the primary text. Then, I also read as well as compiled
some information from the Internet to support my analysis of suspense, surprise
and artistic unity of the novel and I made some conclusions of my analysis.
Finally, I wrote the report in this thesis.
3
Maranatha Christian University
Organization of The Thesis
This thesis consists of three chapters, which are preceded by the
Acknowledgements, Table of Contents and Abstract. The first chapter is the
Introduction, which consists of Background of the Study, Statement of the
Problems, Purpose of the Study, Method of Research, and Organization of the
Thesis. The second chapter is the Analysis of Elements of Plot in Agatha
Christie’s Towards Zero. The third chapter is the Conclusion. The thesis ends with
the Bibliography and the Appendices, which contain the synopsis of the novel and
the biography of the author.
4
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER THREE
CONCLUSION
After I finished reading and analysing the novel, I conclude that Agatha
Christie is very clever in creating such a good murder mystery story. She creates a
story that is full of mystery and also a good surprise ending. In addition to that,
she is very good at raising the readers’ tension and curiosity. This makes the story
have good elements of plot.
After analysing the elements of plot, I am of the opinion that this book has
four suspenses as the important part to build the readers’ tension. The first
suspense is when the author tells that there is someone who is writing a scheme of
a murder that will be executed in September. Furthermore, the readers know that
September is the time the reunion will be held in Gull’s Point. The murder scheme
makes the readers question about who the murderer is and who is going to be the
victim of this murder plan.
The second suspense is when Lady Tressilian is found dead. The readers
may expect the possible victim is one of three characters who are involved in a
major conflict about divorce. They are Nevile Strange, Audrey, and Kay. When
19
Maranatha Christian University
the readers find out that the victim is Lady Tressilian, the readers may think that
the death of Lady Tressilian may have connection with the conflict yet the reason
why she becomes the victim makes the readers question about the motive of the
the murderer to kill her. This event rises the reader’s tension and curiosity; the
readers will read further to reveal the mystery.
The third suspense is when the police find out that the fingerprints on the
niblick used to kill Lady Tressilian belongs to Nevile Strange and Mr. Strange is
also reported to be the last person who meets her before she dies and both of them
has a quarrel at that time. Then, detective Battle decides to do more investigations
to make sure of his suspicion. This situation rises a question in the readers’ mind
on whether it is true that Mr. Strange is the murderer.
The fourth suspense is when the readers are led to suspect Audrey by the
dialogue between her and Andrew Mac Whirter, when he prevents Audrey from
attempting suicide. Audrey tries to jump off the same cliff as the one where he
himself tried to commit suicide a year ago. Audrey is reported to have said that
she is afraid of being hanged. Then, during the several deeper investigations done
by the detective, he finds out that the murderer could be a left-handed person as he
finds the real tool used to kill Lady Tressilian has left-handed fingerprints on it. In
fact, the only left-handed person who attends the reunion is Audrey. Her motive is
expected to be the conflict about divorce. The fact that Audrey tries to commit
suicide and the investigation done by the detective lead the readers to think that
Audrey may have a bitter feeling towards Nevile Strange and she wants to take
revenge on him because he has left her for Kay, a woman who is younger and
20
Maranatha Christian University
more beautiful than her. As a result, the readers wonder whether or not Audrey is
the murderer of Lady Tressilian.
Another important element of this novel is surprise. In my own opinion,
the third and the fourth surprises are good as both of them reveal the mystery of
the murder case as a whole. The third surprise reveals the real murderer and the
motive of the murder.
The third surprise answers the first and the fourth suspense, when the
detective explains about the scheme of the murder plan and how the murder is
done. The scheme of the murder is very nicely planned. In order to make the
murder plan succeed, good physical strength is required. This brings detective
Battle to determine that Nevile Strange is the murderer for he is a famous athlete
with good physical strength.
The fourth surprise is when detective Battle finds out that the motive for
Mr. Strange to kill his own surrogate mother is to make Audrey, his ex-wife,
suspected as the murderer. He does such a crime because he wants to take revenge
on his former wife, Audrey, who has left him for another man.
As for the artistic unity, I find that all suspense is answered by the
surprise. Each of them has plausibility that can be accepted by the readers. The
readers in the begining is led to find out about the murder which according to the
narrator will happen in September, right when the reunion is held. The readers’
curiosity is answered when the murder finally happens. Nevile Strange, who has a
bitter feeling towards his ex-wife, manages to run a scheme of murder in order to
frame his ex-wife, Audrey, who is the main target of this murder plan. She is
planned to be suspected as the culprit of the murder. Mr. Strange does not kill her
21
Maranatha Christian University
directly though he really hates her because he thinks that framing Audrey to be a
criminal who has to deal with the punishment of the court will make his ex-wife
suffer more than killing her directly. He chooses his own surrogate mother to be
the victim to cover his crime. He believes it will make everyone think that it
sounds like something impossible for a person to kill someone who has been like
a mother to him. Mr Strange makes such a clever plan to put himself firstly
suspected by making all the evidences lead to him blatantly to create an image
that someone else deliberately does that to frame him. Then, his final purpose is to
make the suspicion turn to Audrey as the one who wants to frame him.
In my opinion, Agatha Christie’s success in writing this novel has come
from the interesting subject of the novel and the good development of the plot,
especially by using suspense and surprise. Christie has successfully written such a
good story as the answers of the mystery are held back until the end of the story in
order to raise the readers’ tension and curiosity. She provides so many events to
mislead the readers in order to make a surprising ending which is not expected by
the readers.
22
Maranatha Christian University
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Text :
Christie, Agatha. Towards Zero. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1972.
Print.
References :
“Agatha Christie Biography.” Biography Online. Web. 2010. 21 April. 2013.
Perrine, Laurence. Story and Structure: Fourth Edition. New York. Harcourt
Brace Javanovich, Inc, 1959. Print.
“Who-dun-it.” The Free Dictionary. 2005. Web. 25 September. 2013.
“Artistic Unity.” Glossary definition. Web. 4 June. 2014.
“Poirot.” Agatha Christie. Web. 27 July. 2014.
“Miss Marple.” Agatha Christie. Web. 27 July. 2014.
“Towards Zero.” Agatha Christie. Web. 27 July. 2014.
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Maranatha Christian University