And Then There Were None | Quotes

Vera Claythorne notices how people look as well as their tone of voice. When she realizes that Ethel Rogers looks like she is afraid for her life, Vera shivers herself, feeling the first inkling that danger is at hand.

Justice Wargrave establishes himself as the person who gathers evidence after Anthony Marston dies. He questions Rogers about the gramophone record and discovers that Rogers and his wife were hired by letter. Wargrave also received instructions by letter to play the record, so he decides that in order to figure out who Mr. Owen is, everyone needs to share how they were invited to the island.

Justice Wargrave asks everyone why they have come to the island and makes them share the contents of their invitation letters or their assignments on the island. He points out that the name of the sender in each case has the same first two initials, spelling out "Unknown" with the last name. His conclusion makes everyone realize they have been duped by a madman.

Justice Wargrave has a sadistic streak. He shows he enjoys condemning people to their deaths even when they are expected to be acquitted at trial, foreshadowing his murderous tendencies that become obvious later in the novel.

General Macarthur has decided he will accept the fact that he may lose his life, and doesn't want to leave the island because there is nothing in his life to return to. He feels ready for death.

Rogers, in one sentence, tries to establish his innocence in the death of his wife, and casts doubt for all of the other guests on Dr. Armstrong's innocence, a sense of doubt that will resurface later in the novel because of Dr. Armstrong's expertise with poisons.

After Miss Brent tells Vera Claythorne about firing her pregnant maid, Vera realizes Miss Brent feels no shame or guilt about the maid's subsequent suicide' feels totally justified in her actions, on the basis of her religious views; and is, therefore, a dangerous person rather than just a ridiculous old woman.

The men try to find U.N. Owen on the island, convinced he is there orchestrating murders, but they find nothing, leading them to suspect the killer has to be one of the eight remaining people on the island. This initial suspicion begins to erode their trust in each other, allowing Justice Wargrave, the real killer, to further his plan by telling them the killer is one of them. It also allows him to take advantage of Dr. Armstrong to help him fake his death so he can keep killing.

The remaining guests are thinking to themselves about who the murderer could be and that their lives are in danger, but this quote, not yet revealed as Justice Wargrave's internal thoughts, is the reflection of the killer among them, realizing the plan is working but still having to be very careful not to tip his hand.

Since the five remaining guests realize four of them will die and one is the killer, they tread a fine line between having to trust each other to defend themselves and not being able to trust anyone, because any of them could be the murderer. This situation reduces them to animal instincts of self-preservation.

His identity still unknown to the reader and the guests at this point, Justice Wargrave reflects in his mind on his plan to stage his death, having to choose one of the guests to help him fake a shooting so that he can supposedly help solve the case, but his ulterior motive is to keep killing without anyone knowing he's doing it.

Ex-Inspector Blore is a courageous person who has done detective work all his life, so it makes sense that he is one of the last guests on the island to be killed, but Blore has a difficult time dealing with the baffling nature of the crimes, Dr. Armstrong's disappearance, and the still-unknown identity of the murderer.

Vera describes how they have become like animals in a zoo, just like in the nursery rhyme, losing their humanity by suspecting each other and being observed by whoever the killer really is.

Vera Claythorne, supposedly the only person left on the island, thinks Hugo is pushing her to hang herself and realizes, as she thinks to herself, that murder was easy. But the memory of the killing is what still torments her and makes her willing to take her own life.

Justice Wargrave, in his confession to the murders and his own suicide written on a note in a bottle, reveals the reason his plan to fake his death and keep on killing worked so well—his ability to get people to be continually frightened and afraid of each other makes them fail to pay attention to him after he is supposedly dead.