The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side: Difference between revisions

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'''''The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side''''' is a Miss Marple novel by [[Agatha Christie]]. It was first published in 1962.

 

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* [[An Aesop]]: Courtesy of the Reveal at. the end: {{spoiler|quarantines exist for a reason! If Heather had just stayed in bed, per her doctor's orders, Marina's baby likely would have been born healthy and she would not have killed Heather all those years later}}.

* [[All Abusers Are Male]]: Subverted with Jason and Marina, if you read between the lines. The cops do investigate him to see if he slipped the drugs into her daiquiri but he has an alibi, and Jason is clearly devoted to Marina. {{spoiler|Given her murder spree and the haunted look in his eyes when Miss Marple confronts him, she infers that Jason was more of a caretaker to Marina and had to manage her constant mood swings. It says something that he may have overdosed her rather than turning her into the cops, since he lacked proof that she had killed Heather, Zielinsky, or Giuseppe the butler on purpose}}.

* [[Asshole Victim]]: Zigzagged with Heather. While she could be a bit talkative and insensitive, there is the fact that her [[Establishing Character Moment]] is helping Miss Marple recover from a bad fall. Miss Marple herself says that {{spoiler|the killer's grief of what happened to her baby did not justify poisoning a woman who didn't know any better}}.

* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: Before Miss Marple can bring Heather's killer and Marina's would-be assassin to justice, she finds out {{spoiler|Marina has died of an overdose. She suspects but cannot prove that her husband Jason arranged the overdose after finding out how far Marina would go to cover up her murder of Heather, before she could turn the town into a bloodbath. Jason will neither confirm or deny it, but there's a haunted look in his eyes as he talks about how much Marina has suffered. Miss Marple lets him go, because she believed his intentions were to save the town from his wife}}.

* [[Everyone Has Standards]]: Margot, revealed to be one of Marina's adopted and abandoned children, was at the party. When questioned, she says that she may hate her adoptive mother for treating her like a discarded toy, but she didn't want to ''kill'' Marina. Margot attended and hoped that Marina would recognize her, and that maybe they could talk. Marina didn't even look at her, convincing Margot there was nothing to save.

* [[Never Suicide]]: Discussed; Miss Marple doesn't know for certain if {{spoiler|Marina killed herself after realizing that she was going to get investigated for murdering Heather, or if her husband did the deed and arranged for the overdose. She suspects it was the latter, given that Marina had no signs of stopping}}.

* [[Shout-Out]]: The novel's title comes from the poem "The Lady of Shallott," which Miss Bantry quotes to Miss Marple after witnessing the murder at the party.

 

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