And Then There Were None: The Possibility Of Events To Happen

The fact that people they hadn’t talked to in years would invite them to a random island is highly improbable, and even more unlikely is that all ten of them would accept the invites.

I believe that many of the people wouldn’t have accepted the invitations from someone they hadn’t talked to in years. I don’t think they would go all this way on their own to go on this foreign island that had a shady and unknown past. I was also surprised that none of them were very skeptical. When getting introduced to Mr. Justice Wargrave on page one (who is later revealed to be the killer), he explains that a friend that he knew from 7-8 years ago invited him to this private island. He later also states that ‘she had been going to Italy to bask in the sun’. He also said he had heard that she had “proceeded to Syria where she proposed to bask in a yet stronger sun’. This does not make any sense. Why would she buy an island on the east coast of England where the average temperature is 18 degrees, when she clearly loves the hot weather. Overall I think that many of the 10 people would decline the invitation considering the circumstances.

It is highly unlikely that the killer could find all these long-lost friends and relatives in the 1930s.

In the 1930s there was no cell phones, and the internet was 60 years away. This got me thinking, how did the killer find all these long-lost relatives and friends, that have moved to different region’s and countries? For example, when we are being introduced to Miss Emily Brent, she reads the letter out that she was sent inviting her to solider island. In the letter it says, ‘We were together at the Belhaven guest House in august some years ago’. I don’t believe the killer could have known she had gone to this place ‘many years ago’ with such little ways to communicate and find information. Overall, I think this part of the book is unrealistic and doesn’t make sense to the time frame it was set in.

The murders were often implausible. After Blore, Lombard and Armstrong figure out that the deaths must have been murders, they decide to search the island for Mr. Owen and end up finding no one. After this the oldest guest, General Macarthur, feels sure he is going to die and goes to look out at the ocean. Only hours later Dr. Armstrong finds the general dead from a gunshot to the head. This is impossible considering a gunshot can release 150 dB or more of sound. That is loud enough to cause physical damage or pain. For perspective, a bolt of lightning lets off a around 120dB. That is softer than a gunshot and you can hear thunder from 16km away, so unless the island is bigger than 16km they would’ve definitely heard it. When Blore, Lombard, and Armstrong walk downstairs after Vera called out for help, they find Wargrave draped in a curtain with a gunshot to the head. This is even more unbelievable than the general’s death, why didn’t they get suspicious that they didn’t hear the massive boom that the gunshot would’ve let out. Even with a silencer on the gun would only be silenced to around 100 dB which would’ve still shook the house. Overall, I think some of the killings didn’t make sense and were unrealistic.

In conclusion, everything about the invitations, the fact that the killer could find all these long lost friends and relatives with such little ways of communication, and the implausible murders made me realize that the book has many improbable set circumstances and situations that could never happen in real life.