The Setting: Is it all in your mind?

            In Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, setting plays an important role.  The story takes place on Soldier Island, isolated from the rest of the world.  The guests arrive by boat, but are stranded on U. N. Owen’s island.
            The first important factor to note is how the island is set apart from the rest of the world; communication and transportation between Soldier Island and the rest of the world is impossible.  In this way, the characters are stranded in a place cut off from any sense of society. Agatha Christie is displaying how society is artificial, and without it how people return to their essences.  By keeping the characters away from anyone who could judge them, the murderer ensures that the character’s true nature is revealed.
            Another important thing to note is the name of the island: Soldier Island; a subtle reminder to how morals are abandoned in a time of war, and how everything seems acceptable when in the heat of action.
            A final detail to be noticed is the owner of the island: U. N. Owen, a pun on “Unknown”.  Without a host present, and without knowing who the host is, it appears that there is no host or owner. The author is very clever in a sense that one can only know by reading this book!