《无人生还》中的儿歌“十个小黑人”隐喻意义分析

·

克里斯蒂

;

十个小黑人

;

童谣

;

隐喻

;

ii

Abstract

And

Then

There

Were

None

is

a

mystery

novel

by

Agatha

Christie.

It

was

first

published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1939 as

Ten

Little Niggers

, after the British Negro song which serves as a major plot point. The title

was changed to

And Then There Were None

, for the first American edition. It is Christie's

best-selling

novel

with

100

million

sales

up

to

date,

making

it

the

world's

best-selling

mystery ever, and one of the bestsellers of all time. In the novel, ten people are enticed

into an island under different

pretexts; all have been complicit

in

the death(s) of other

human

beings

but

either

escaped

justice

or

committed

another

act

not

subject

to

legal

sanction.

The

guests

are

charged

with

their

respective

“crimes”

by

a

gramophone

recording

after

dinner

the

first

night,

and

informed

that

they

have

been

brought

to

the

island to pay for their actions. They are the only people on the island, and cannot escape

due to the distance and the inclement weather. One by one, all the ten are killed in turn at

the end, in a manner that seems to parallel the ten deaths in the nursery rhyme. The novel

was

named

after

the

last

line

of

the

rhyme.

This

article

is

going

to

analyze

the

hint

insinuate of the nursery rhyme in

And Then There Were None

.

Key

words:

And Then

There

Were None

;

Agatha Christie;

Ten

Little

Indians; nursery

rhyme; hint insinuate

ii

1. Introduction

Agatha Christie is an English crime novelist, short story writer, and playwright. She

also

wrote six romances

under the name Mary

Westmacott, but

best

known for the 66

detective novels and 14 short story collections she wrote under her own name. She also

wrote the world's longest-running play,

The Mousetrap

.

Born in a wealthy upper-middle-class family in Torquay, Christie is very interested

in

literary creation.

Early

in

her

life,

her

sister

always

told

her

stories

about

The

Adventures

of

Sherlock

Holmes,

which

inspired

her

engaged

herself

into

detective

writing

career.

She

was

initially

unsuccessful

at

getting

her

work

published;

but

in

1920 The

Bodley

Head press

published

her

novel The

Mysterious

Affair

at

Styles,

featuring the character of Poirot. This launched her literary career.

And Then There Were None

is Christie's best- selling novel with 100 million sales to

date, making it the world's best- selling mystery ever, and one of the bestsellers of all time.

It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November

1939 as

Ten Little Niggers

, named after the British Negro song which serves as a major

plot point. The title was changed to

And Then There Were None

, for the first American

edition.

In the novel, ten people are enticed into coming to an island under different pretexts;

all have been complicit in the death(s) of other human beings but either escaped justice

or committed another act not subject to legal sanction. The guests are charged with their

respective “crimes” by a gramophone recording after

dinner the first night, and informed

that

they

have

been

brought

to

the

island

to

pay

for

their

actions.

They

are

the

only

people on the island, and cannot escape due to the distance and the inclement weather.

One by one, all the ten are killed at the end, in a manner that seems to parallel the ten

deaths in the nursery rhyme. There is the nursery rhyme as follow.

Ten Little Indians

Ten little Indian Boys went out to dine;

One choked his little self and then there were nine.

Nine little Indian Boys sat up very late;

One overslept himself and then there were eight.

Eight little Indian Boys travelling in Devon;

One said he'd stay there and then there were seven.

1

Seven little Indian Boys chopping up sticks;

One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.

Six little Indian Boys playing with a hive;

A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.

Five little Indian Boys going in for law;

One got in Chancery and then there were four.

Four little Indian Boys going out to sea;

A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.

Three little Indian Boys walking in the zoo;

A big bear hugged one and then there were two.

Two little Indian Boys sitting in the sun;

One got frizzled up and then there was one.

One little Indian Boy left all alone;

He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.(Frank,1869:24)

Then we will discuss about in this rhyme from its origin and uses to find out the hint

insinuation in it.

2. The Origin of Rhyme

2.1 The origin of

Mother goose

The nursery rhyme

“

Ten little Indians

”

in this book is picked from

Mother Goose

, a

book contains a collection of fairy tales and nursery rhymes, often published as

Mother

Goose Rhymes

. As a character, Mother goose appears in single nursery rhyme. From the

description

and

illustrations,

Mother

Goose

is

generally

depicted

as

an

elderly

country

woman in a tall hat and shawl, a costume identical to the peasant worn in Wales in the

early

20th

century,

but

is

also

depicted

as

a goose

usually

wearing

a bonnet.

Mother

Goose

is credited with the Mother Goose stories and rhymes; yet no specific writer has

ever

been

identified

with

such

a

name.

This

book

included

amount

of

well-known

nursery rhymes, such as London Bridge Is Falling Down, Mary had a little lamb, etc.

2

2.2 The background of Ten Little Indians

Mother goose

contains a number of bloody, brutal sentences, which was mainly due

to its dark background. The biggest reason is its different attitude towards death. Asians

used to avoid talking about

“

death

”

or related topics. On the contrary, westerners have no

tatoo to talk about death. They taught their children

“

what is

death” from

an early age.

Besides, in 18th-century

’

s England, where the Industrial Revolution occurred, not only

prompting capitalism, but also caused serious inequality and class antagonisms. Most of

the people became victims of capitalism. They lived in terrible poverty in a dangerous

part of the city, where crime and drugs were commonplace. In such conditions,

Mother

Goose

’

s

bloody,

brutal

sentences

would

not

be

a

surprising

thing.

Some

of

the

lyrics

reflect

historical

background,

and

some

are

mirror

of

reality,

such

as

insane

people,

murderers,

child

who

killed

her

parents,

parents

trading

their

child,

etc.

They

are

commonplace

in

this

poverty

society.

Adapting

life

stories

to

rhymes

are

entirely

historical tragedy that may seem unacceptable today.

“

Ten little Indians

”

formerly known as

“

Ten little niggers

”

,

seems quite absurd in

content. The last sentence of this nursery rhyme

“

He went and hanged himself, and then

there were none

”

may not suitable for children to read, now changed to

“

He got married,

and

then

there

were

none.

”

When

nigger

is

an

extremely

offensive

word

for

a

black

person, at last the

“

Ten little niggers

”

changed into

“

Ten little Indians

”

.

3. Hint insinuation of the Rhyme

“

Ten little Indians

”

tells a story about ten Indian boys. After many twists and turns,

only one of the original ten boys is left; he feels very lonely and at last hanged himself.

That insinuated the weighty and cruel reality that people in the bottom of working class,

who

struggled

against

the

oppression

from

middle

class

and

brutal

capitalist

society,

gradually dying out until no one last in the end.

Then we will discuss about the hint insinuation of this rhyme in the book.

3.1 To hint the sequence and the ways to death

In this book, guests were invited to an island. At the first night, everyone found a

nursery rhyme,

“

Ten little Indians

”

, in his or her bedroom. And in the center of the round

table, on a circular glass stand, were placed ten little Indians figures. No one surprised

because

this

is

an

Indian

Island. One

by

one,

people

died

tragically

as

the

rhyme

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