- What is the tone of the novel? I think you'll discover that, in addition to a fundamental change in the plot near the end of the film, that the entire tone is different. To prepare us to appreciate this tone--and to figure out how it was accomplished--I'd like us to define the tone of the novel before we screen the film.
- At the end of the book we learn--not just from Owen/Wargrave's confession, but also from the police inspectors' conversation in the Epilogue--that Wargrave wasn't guilty of sending an innocent man to his death. So the question arrises: Is Wargrave a villain? Is he evil? Why or why not?
- Why does Vera hang herself at the end?
What questions do you have about the novel?
It's so hard to decide if Wargrave is evil or not. My mind goes back and forth between the two. In a sense, yes because no one should ever take that upon himself. The methodic planning of it, the cunning ways in which he lured each victim there - is evil. The other side of the coin toss is that he was doing something beneficial to society by bringing justice to those that otherwise would continue to escape the law.. However is it such that just because these individuals committed these crimes in the past, they would do so again? Had they maybe repented their sins? Who am I to say? Who is Wargrave to decide this on his own?
ReplyDeleteAs for Vera, I truly believe she was just so haunted by everything & in sort of a trance that there was no other choice in her mind. Maybe she was going through some form of PTSD and got stuck in a trance like state after all that ensued on Soldier Island. I think it was just set up perfectly so, her hallucinating Hugo the entire time, the seaweed, just having found Armstrong's drowned body (like the child). If there was another character who managed to be the last one standing - I don't believe that they would have made the same decision that Vera did.
I believe that the tone of this novel is very dark. There is no light or happy vibe I get from this novel because it is a mystery about murders that keep occurring. The novel keeps you on edge and has your mind picking a fight with itself wondering whether you are right or wrong on who the killer may be.
ReplyDeleteI'm also conflicted because throughout the book we feel as though wargrave is evil but in the end we find out that he was never found guilty for sending an innocent man to his death. The dark tone of this book brought us to believe in one thing when it was the complete opposite. I feel as though wargrave is not evil because we didn't actually kill the innocent man that we thought he did.
the feeling or tone of the book is fast paced. really suspenseful and as the reader makes me feel as if i were in the story and getting the sense of being paranoid. having yourself looking at corners trying to figure out what's going to happen next and playing detective.
ReplyDeleteThe tone of the novel is always an uneasy one, off-kilter one that makes it so you're never allowed to truly rest, much how everyone in the house (with exception to Wargrave) feels. There's always this feeling of looking over one's shoulder and trust is a luxury and rare one at that. Sure you learn that each character is there because they perpetrated some "evil" but you still feel bad because they are being hunted and ended one by one at a turtle's pace.
ReplyDeleteWargrave is evil because the method in which he delivers his "justice" (haha) is cruel and unusual punishment, something the "good" part of him would of and effectively did punish him for. He's evil because he went out of his way to pick people he deemed evil and killed them without fair trial.
Vera kills herself because throughout the film she's being haunted by her mistakes and throughout the film we see how unhinged she's becoming and with the additional deaths just happening around her, the mental state just got worse and worse until she just couldn't take it anymore.
The tone of the novel starts off with a spooky, mysterious feel. Us, the readers a long with the characters don't really know what we are going to get ourselves into. The author does a great job at keeping us on our toes. The tone goes from dark, to scary when people start dying. Then a weird twist happens, when we find out Wargrave is the murderer. The question if Wargrave is evil or not is really similar to the question if the Aunts in Old Lace and Arsenic were justified as well. Vera commits suicide towards the end because she can not stop reminiscing her dark past throughout the entire film. Her sins are making her miserable by haunting her.
ReplyDeleteThe tone in both the novel and film were very similar. They both were very dark. Unlike the novel, the movie's tone seemed to shift to a more neutral tone. I believe the filmmakers did that at that time to make it more suitable for all viewers who were watching the movie. I prefer what the author did with keeping the tone of the novel dark because it has a sense of realism within the mystery. If I was in the same exact situation, there wouldn't be any uplifting moments in the situation. I believe Wargrave was evil. His way of getting justice was just as cruel as the crimes that these people committed. I figured sense he was a judge, he would've made better judgments when it came to fair punishment. I think Vera always had intentions on killing herself way before going to the island. Being the last one on the island was even more of a way for her to actually go through with killing herself. I think she believed that being reunited with someone she truly loved would make her complete.
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