Murder on the Orient Express

1. author: Agatha Christie

2. type of work: Novel genre: Mystery language: English

3. narrator: Anonymous

4. setting (place): The setting is first aboard a train headed to Stamboul, then Stamboul and then on a train from Stamboul to London, the Orient Express.

5. tone: The narrator is amused by the passengers aboard the Orient Express and seems to take pleasure in describing their predicament.

6. protagonist: Hercule Poirot A retired Belgian police officer. Poirot is Christie's most famous detective and is known for his short stature and long, curly moustache. Poirot is very intelligent, extremely aware and instinctual and is a brilliant detective. The novel is generally written from his perspective.

7. themes: The Justice of a Jury, The Insufficency of Law, The Morality of Murder

8. motifs: Class, Americans, Identity

9. symbols: Ratchett, Daisy, Food

10. foreshadowing: Conversation overheard by Poirot between Mary Debenham and Colonel Arbuthnot on the way to Stamboul, Ratchett tells Poirot someone is going to murder him, Princess Dragomiroff tells Poirot her arms are not strong and looks at her arms.

11. full title: Murder on the Orient Express or Murder on the Calais Coach

12. Characters:

13. setting (time): Winter, 1925–1933

14. "All around us are people, of all classes, of all nationalities, of all ages"

15. "Ce n'est rien. Je me suis trompe"

16. point of view: The narrator speaks in the third person, focusing on the thoughts and actions of Poirot. The narrator is fairly objective in her observations, but the text is peppered with juicy, subjective details of each character. All observations seem to be consistent with Poirot, what the narrator thinks is the same as Poirot. There is one instance that first person is used. In Chapter 3, Part three, there is a brief moment where the reader is privy to the comical thoughts of M.Bouc and Dr.Constantine.

17. major conflict: A man is murdered aboard a train headed to London from Stamboul called the Orient Express. The morning after, the train gets stuck in the snow and it is up to Hercule Poirot to figure out which passenger was the murderer.

18. rising action: Hercule Poirot goes to Stamboul and must return to London on business, he rides the Orient Express back to London, the train stops in a snow bank

19. climax: Ratchett is murdered

20. falling action: Poirot is asked to launch an investigation of passengers on the train; he interviews passengers, makes observations, and propounds two solutions.

21. plot: Hercule Poirot, private detective and retired Belgian police officer, boards the Taurus Express train to Stamboul (Istanbul). On the train there are two other passengers, Mary Debenham and Colonel Arbuthnot. The two act as if they are strangers, but Poirot observes behavior that suggests that they are not. Poirot is suspicious of the couple...