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.