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Alliteration
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Chapter Four
Explanation and Analysis—Rich Man, Poor Man:
In Chapter 4, Poirot chastises Linnet for taking Simon from Jackie. He alludes to a biblical story to illustrate how he understands Linnet's actions.
You have heard of King David and of the rich man who had many flocks and herds and the poor man who had one ewe lamb—and of how the rich man took the poor man’s one ewe lamb. That was something that happened, Madame.
This allusion to the Bible is from Samuel 2:12. The story Poirot tells is a parable about a rich man with many livestock who nevertheless chooses to take a poor man's one ewe. Just as Poirot tells Linnet this story to prove that she's been selfish, in the Bible this parable is told to King David so he can realize the error of his ways. Even the circumstances of David's sin are similar to Linnet's transgression: David sent a man into the frontlines of a campaign so that man would die and David could marry the man's wife.
The parable also serves as a metaphor for Linnet's choice. As the "rich man," she seduced her less fortunate friend's fiancé and therefore took from someone else, even though she needs nothing and could marry a different man with ease. Poirot points out the power imbalance in her relationship with Simon, which Linnet insists has nothing to do with their marriage.
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Chapter Eleven
Explanation and Analysis—Cards on the Table:
In Chapter 11, Poirot runs into his old acquaintance Colonel Race on the steamer. This chance meeting allows Christie to allude to another Poirot novel, Cards on the Table, which was published in 1936:
Hercule Poirot had come across Colonel Race a year previously in London. They had been fellow guests at a very strange dinner party—a dinner party that had ended in death for that strange man, their host.
Unlike most of the characters in Death on the Nile, who only appear in this mystery, Colonel Race features in four of Christie's books, including two Poirot novels. In Cards on the Table, an eccentric wealthy man brings together several criminology experts, including Race and Poirot, and individuals he suspects to be uncaught murderers. When their host is killed, the criminologists must discover who did it. As in Cards on the Table, Race and Poirot again work together in Death on the Nile.
Their meeting on the Karnak is accidental, but Race provides information that is crucial to Poirot untangling the interwoven motivations of the passengers. Race himself is on the steamer to catch an unrelated murderer, who turns out to be Signor Richetti. Within the narrative, Race functions as a foil for Poirot. Both men solve crimes, but Race feels Poirot uses atypical methods. He can't understand why Poirot focuses on events seemingly not connected to Linnet's murder, such as the theft of the pearls, but ultimately Poirot's methodology succeeds.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Explanation and Analysis—The Scarlet Kimono:
In Chapter 22, Poirot alludes to another Christie novel, Murder on the Orient Express:
Once, on the Orient Express, I investigated a murder. There was a little matter of a scarlet kimono. It had disappeared, and yet it must be on the train. I found it—where do you think? In my own locked suitcase! Ah! It was an impertinence, that!
Similarly to Death on the Nile, Murder of the Orient Express is set on a vehicle the suspects cannot leave. Murder on the Orient Express is also like Death on the Nile in that many of characters withhold information from Poirot. Unlike in Orient Express, however, in Death on the Nile only Simon and Jackie conspired to kill Linnet, and the involvement of the other characters is coincidental or after-the-fact.
This allusion also reminds the reader that, in a Poirot novel, there will be twists and turns, such as the appearance of the kimono in Poirot's luggage. At this moment in the novel, Poirot is trying to convince Colonel Race that it's worth their time to search their own cabins. Although a search of their own belongings yields nothing helpful, it's this willingness to think outside the box that makes Poirot an effective detective and compelling character.
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Chapter Twenty-Eight
Explanation and Analysis—Naked Shining Truth:
In Chapter 28, Colonel Race complains to Poirot that the famous detective is "beating around the bush" by solving the mystery of the missing pearls instead of focusing on the three murders. Poirot explains his thought process to Race with a metaphor that is also an allusion to an earlier Agatha Christie novel:
Once I went professionally to an archæological expedition—and I learnt something there. In the course of an excavation, when something comes up out of the ground, everything is cleared away very carefully all around it. You take away the loose earth, and you scrape here and there with a knife until finally your object is there, all alone, ready to be drawn and photographed with no extraneous matter confusing it. That is what I have been seeking to do—clear away the extraneous matter so that we can see the truth—the naked shining truth.
This archeological metaphor is a reference to the Poirot novel Murder in Mesopotamia, in which Poirot is called to an archeological dig to solve a murder. The allusion also serves as a defense of his detective work. There are a lot of moving parts in Death on the Nile, and many characters lie even though they are not involved in the murder. What Poirot argues here is that it's crucial to "take away the loose earth," or figure out what clues and details are not related to the murder, so that the "object is there, all alone […] with no extraneous matter confusing it." In this case, the "object" Poirot seeks to see clearly is the actual murder, as opposed to the jewelry theft, financial troubles, and family secrets that also occur in the novel.
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