Analysis Of The Truth In 'The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd'

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Nothing is ever what it seems in this in Agatha Christie’s novel, the limitations between reality and fiction or rather truth and deceit are blurring and real. The acclaimed novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd integrates the subtle techniques of hidden meaning from the narrator by means of which a special narrator-reader connection is created and trust is assumed from the narrator by the reader. This coalition has the reader enter a novel where deductions, details and misleading pathways play a starring role. The most misleading pathway would be that of the idea of truth. The truth in this novel, while being the main goal, is subjective and is able to be twisted while not actually becoming a false statement by the narrator while his partner …show more content…

By means of these double-edged statements—ambiguous in nature—Sheppard manages to tell the readers nothing but the truth. It requires a second reading of the novel to even access that deeper hidden level. The other method that supplies the production of illusion and the falsity of truth is the lie by omission. Sheppard may tell nothing but the truth but he does not tell the whole truth. He as an unreliable narrator left out certain scenes that would have implicated all which is discovered in the last chapter as he describes what he did and how he murdered Roger Ackroyd never really feeling remorse for his actions. Throughout this novel Dr. Sheppard hides the truth, otherwise the whole novel and search for Ackroyd’s murderer would have no meaning if revealed in the beginning. However, while it is hidden in a deeper level the truth is still accessible to the reader; understanding the truth is just a matter of knowing what happened and unveiling the character’s true personas. While Dr.

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