Prompt: In many works of fiction houses take on symbolic importance. Such as houses may be literal houses or unconventional ones (e.g., hotels, monasteries, or boats). Either from your own reading or from the list below, choose a work of fiction in which a literal or unconventional house serves as a significant symbol. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how this house contributes to an interpretation of the work as a whole.
In the book “Death on the Nile”, Agatha Christie uses the idea of an unconventional house in order to convey the isolation and abandonment the passengers experience, ultimately illustrating how a house can symbolize safety.
Initially, the boat was seen as a home and quickly got turned into a crime scene. Each character on the boat gets on and has no fear of anything bad happening. They thought they were going to be on an exotic cruise traveling down the Nile in Egypt. The peaceful vacation quickly changes once someone gets murdered. The boat symbolizes a home, and it was seen as the character's “home” for several days. Somebody made them feel stranded and lost in their home, and they are feeling helpless and lost. The boat is traveling down the Nile all alone; they are abandoned and can not do anything about it. This unlocks a new fear that the passengers would have never thought they would have to come across. The claustrophobic setting intensifies the setting. The characters are trapped with a killer and they have no escape. They are all on this boat together and all that is around them is water. They can not do anything besides sit and wait. In addition, the tension just keeps building and building. Every interaction creates suspense that keeps growing while the boat keeps traveling down the Nile as the thought of danger can strike at any moment.
Furthermore, a home is supposed to provide safety rather than a sense of fear. A house is typically seen as a safe place. Once that safe place is turned into something quite opposite, people do not know how to act. In a house people can be themselves and essentially not have to worry about being murdered while walking around. When someone gets murdered in their house, the boat, it creates fear and intensifies the setting quickly. They used to be safe and carefree. Now they are all terrified and fearful for their own life. The boat has a murderer walking around and nobody knows who it is. The idea of being unsafe in their own home is unsettling. They are going through so many emotions and feelings that normal people do not experience in their house. The detective, Hercule Poirot, is trying to help them by finding the murderer. This is still unsettling because they are all unsure who it is, and they are scared that they could be murdered next. A home is full of things people are familiar with. Humans do not like change. They prefer things they are familiar with. When the boat gets shifted into a murder scene the characters become extremely uncomfortable. In a house people feel a sense of belonging, but now they are all panicked.
To continue, Agatha Christie uses the boat in “Death on the Nile” to symbolize an unconventional home. She puts the characters in a place they are familiar and comfortable with, and then throws a huge shift on them. This creates a fear in a place they once felt safe and comfortable in.