Recurring Themes in the Work of Agatha Christie and Her Life's Influences on Her Writing

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Agatha Christie wrote most of her books with the same recurring themes. One of the themes that Christie has in her books is feminism. The definition of feminism is the belief in the need to protect rights, and opportunities for women to be equal to those of men. It is also saying they can go through life without having a man in their lives and living as independent women. Anti-feminism is the opposite of feminism and says women are all the same and do need a man in their life. Christie uses feminism and anti-feminism to view women during the twentieth century in the three books.

First, Agatha Christie does not just use feminism but she also uses sexism in the book, Death on the Nile. Sexism is the discrimination because of gender. An example of sexism is when Jackie, Linnet’s best friend who helps plot her death, and Linnet, the first character who is killed on the ship, are in a discussion in the beginning of the book about Simon Doyle who is engaged to Jackie at the time of this conversation. Jackie tells Linnet how her life would be over without him. Jckie claims, “Linnet, I shall die if I can’t marry him! I shall die! I shall die! I shall die…” (Christie, Death 11). This shows sexism because Jackie says her life would be over without a man. She shows sexism because she is proving the theory right; that women cannot live without men. Jackie is dependent upon Simon because she is obsessed with the idea of marrying him. Jackie proves that the theory of sexism is right since she is not able to go through life without a man to take care of her. In addition, this is foreshadowing the fact that Linnet steals Simon away from Jackie and so Jackie wants to emphasize before that happens how much she needs Simon to survive...

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...hemes of feminism, stereotypes, and socioeconomics. Christie shows the fact that her motives in most of her books are similar. The overall message about Agatha Christie is that she writes her books based on what she knows. Cathy Luzmore, author of Agatha Christie’s Influences on her Writings, concludes, “These travels inspired not only Murder on the Orient Express, but also Murder in Mesopotamia, Death on the Nile, Death Comes as the End and Appointment with Death.” With two of the three books in this paper, she gets her ideas about where the books will take place from her own travels. The third book, The Body in the Library, is reflecting upon the life style Agatha Christie had grown up in which was the middle class society in England. Overall, Christie shows that growing up the way she did, contributes to the successful woman she became.

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