The Connection of Murderers: The Relations to the Armstrong Family

I was reviewing the three books for the quiz when I came to the Murder on the Orient Express. I began thinking about the family and how they were all connected, and it reminded me of a family tree. Therefore, I created a tree showing how all of the passengers knew each other prior to the train. This tree turned out to be more of a web. The web assisted me in remembering the true identity of each person and their relation to the Armstrong family. Overall, this diagram I created helped me prepare for the quiz on the book and will help anyone that was confused about the relationships revealed at the conclusion of the novel.

What Goes Around... Comes Around

"What Goes Around...Comes Around" is a song written by Justin Timberlake, a song most people know the tune of. I was listening to my playlist when this song came blaring over my headphones. The song is originally about a woman cheating on a man, but this song reminded me about Murder on the Orient Express. One verse that connects to the book is, " Don't want to think about it/ Don't want to talk about it/ I'm just so sick about it/ Can't believe it's ending this way." This resembles the novel because the members on the train are all connected to Daisy Armstrong, the girl Mr. Ratchett murdered. They do not want to remember her death, and the death of a relative is always devastating. From personal experience, I would even say they are "just so sick about it," as quoted before. The members end their anger with this man by murdering him and I just "can't believe it's ending this way." Overall, that verse contains thoughts similar to those the character or even the reader had throughout the course of Murder on the Orient Express.

The Masks: Concealing Identity

This is an excellent representation of what the passengers on the train had to do to conceal their true identity. They worked together and each person had to complete two parts in the murder of Mr. Ratchett. The white mask represents the role in which the character had to act innocent as if they knew nothing about the man or the murder. The black mask represents the person's role in the murder and could be called their "violent side". There are two masks because each character is not entirely innocent or entirely evil. They are kind people that had great anger against this man and their resentment triggered a new side, the black mask, to surface.

Part Three: Bringing it all Together

The final verdict on The Murder on the Orient Express was revealed and I was beyond shocked. Once the answer surfaced, the pieces fit together perfectly. The problem I had was figuring out which of the thirteen other passengers delivered justice to the man known as Mr. Ratchett. There was equal evidence to prove each passengers innocence; they all had alibis. Everybody claimed to be with somebody at the time the murder occurred. This problem, was not a problem at all, and revealed the murderer of Mr. Ratchett. The answer was right in front of me. There were twelve passengers involved in the murder, and they were all equally guilty. The only person not guilty was Countess Andrenyi, as her husband took her spot in the murder. Each person stabbed this man once. Mrs. Hubbard, Princess Dragimiroff, Count Andrenyi, Pierre Michel, Mr. Hardman, Mary Debenham, Hildegarde Schmidt, Greta Ohlsson, Edward Masterman, Antonio Foscarelli, Hector MacQueen, and Colonel Arbuthnot all stabbed this man once, explaining the reasoning for the different types of blows given to the corpse. These people were all related somehow to the Armstrong family and felt great anger when Mr. Ratchett wasn't convicted. They felt they must take matters into their own hands. Mrs. Hubbard happened to be the famous actress known as Linda Arden and had to act the most throughout the elaborate plan. The only fault in their plan was when Mrs. Hubbard asked Greta if the connecting door was locked because her sponge bag was in the way of the lock. It happened to be that the sponge bag was dangling from the handle, and that it would be in the way of the lock if she was in an even room number. Yet, Mrs. Hubbard stayed in an odd number where the connecting door lock would be above the handle. The sponge bag could not have blocked the view of the lock. Otherwise, their plan was planned and executed flawlessly. Poirot was quite smart and thought out of the box to figure out those that killed the man. Upon figuring out their plan, they admitted their guilt. Poirot then decided that he would tell the police his first scenario and justice would be served. Overall, this book was exquisite and will go down as one of my favorites. The suspense lasted up until the last few pages, the many plot twists had the reader changing their minds on whom to blame, and the ending placed all of the pieces together into a perfectly assembled puzzle.

Part Two: Evidence

The second part of this novel was packed with a large amount of mind-boggling evidence, convicting multiple people. Instead of including every piece of evidence uncovered, I am going to use the pieces of evidence that support whom I believe murdered Mr. Ratchett. One person I believe is involved in the murder is Mrs. Hubbard. She is portrayed as an innocent grandmother that has been framed and faints at any sight of blood, as proven when she found the knife in her bag. I believe this is all an act and she helped the murderer out by allowing them through her room. This would result if she happens to not be the killer, and I am not crossing her off of the suspect list. She is one of the few Americans on the train and claims to not be related to the Armstrong case or to have been involved. The author is trying to have the reader believe that Mary is the murderer, which I am convinced is a distraction. The German maid is not the murderer, which I am quite positive of. The other person I believe could be the murderer is the Colonel. He is the only person on the train that admitted to smoking a pipe and a pipe cleaner was found in the room of Mr. Ratchett. The Colonel claims to have been with Mr. Ratchett's secretary. This must be his alibi, because it seems that the secretary did not have an emotional reaction to the death of his master. I believe Macqueen would gladly help a person murder Mr. Ratchett. The Colonel did not disclose his reasoning as to be on the train. The Colonel may have worked with Mrs. Hubbard and could have tried to keep her identity a secret when asked about a woman that walked by in a red kimono. He claims to have only smelled a fruity scent and gave away no description. In the end, my suspect list is still open to most travelers on the train, but the top two I suspect are Colonel Arbuthnot and Mrs. Hubbard. There is much left to read of the novel that could change the game, but as of now, I suspect these two to be involved.

Part One: Gathering Information

As with most novels, the first few pages of Murder on the Orient Express were puzzling, yet I persisted through. The book began in Syria, and M. Poirot is on a train with two other passengers, traveling to Stamboul. The other passengers, Mary Debenham and a Colonel from India, seemed to have known each other prior to the train. Poirot overhead the Colonel say he wished Mary were not apart of this. I began to wonder what Mary was apart of, and why didn't the Colonel want her to be apart of it? They get off of the train and Poirot arrives at his hotel where he receives a telegram, informing him there has been a case developing rather quickly and he was needed in London. He then cancels his room and asks the concierge to book him a first class sleeper on the Orient Express, departing at 9 p.m. He attends dinner where he finds a friend, M. Bouc. The two men eat together and notice two other men that seemed rather strange. The younger one went by Hector, and the elder by Mr. Ratchett. Poirot arrives to board the train and there were difficulties, causing him to take a bunk with Hector. The following day at lunch, Poirot observes the other passengers when Mr. Ratchett approaches him and asks him if he would like a case that could earn him "big money", because Mr. Ratchett had received threats. Poirot declines the case. Later, Poirot is upgraded to Bouc's compartment as he switched to the Athen's coach. The train departs and he overhears Mrs. Hubbard, an older woman, talk about how her room is connected to Mr. Ratchett's and that she is deathly afraid of him. That night, Poirot is awaken by a groan from Mr. Racthett's door. The attendant showed and was told that everything was fine, and Poirot fell back asleep. The night had many interruptions from other passengers and he notices the train is stopped due to snow. Later in the morning, he is called to an empty compartment my M. Bouc and is informed that somebody murdered Mr. Ratchett! He was found in his compartment, locked from the inside, and stabbed a dozen or so times in the chest. The window was open, but there were no footsteps in the snow. Poirot, a detective, takes on the case and interrogates Hector, and is going to assume he did not murder his employer. He then goes to find clues in the room and to inspect the body. Poirot enters with a doctor and they find that the body has a few slight scratches, a few major blows, a few that had to have been delivered with a left hand, and a few that had to have been delivered with a right. Were there two murderers? They also find a handkerchief with an H embroidered on it and a pipe cleaner. They additionally found two different matches, leading to believe someone other than the deceased burned something. Using a few tricks, Poirot discovers a burned piece of paper that read, "member little Daisy Armstrong", which was the name of a young girl that was murdered. After these clues, I began to put together a logical explanation in my head. I am going to assume that it was a man and a woman that murdered the man, and I believe Mrs. Hubbard was the woman. She is quite weak and the handkerchief had an H embroidered. It also explains how she could have entered, as the only thing between her room and his was a door that she locked. As for the man, I am not certain, but I surely believe that Mrs. Hubbard had something to do with the murder of Mr. Ratchett.