Week+Three+Online+Essay+Question

Jen Barlics 6-10-09 Online Response Essay #2 Using facts and logic, Mrs. Marple effortlessly solved the murder case involving Mrs. Pritchard in __The Blue Geranium__ by Agatha Christie. Quietly sitting at the dinner table Mrs. Marple assessed all the facts as Sir Henry proudly filled all the dinner quests in on the murder mystery. In fact, she only interrupted Sir Henry's story telling twice just before she solved the case to everyone's amazement. A patient, observant detective such as Mrs. Marple thinks about all possibilities and outcomes in order to reach her final conclusion unlike her male counterpart, John Jones in __He Knew__ by Chester Himes. Jones acted on impulse and used force to solve the robbery/murder mysteries haunting his town. The vast difference between John Jones and Mrs. Marple can be seen in the two stories, __The Blue Geranium__ and __He Knew__ with the detectives very different approaches to solving murder mysteries. Breaking down Mrs. Marple's technique reveals her calm and quiet approach to solving murder. Actually most people don't even notice when she's in the room listening to the story. Her tactic seems to be one of absorbing all information and then putting the pieces of the puzzle together in her head before revealing the outcome. Sir Henry mentions this in the story when he states, " We hardly realized that Mrs. Marple was playing; but we were very polite about it." (Christie 231) He goes on to say that, to his amazement, "the old lady outdid us every time." (232) Mrs. Marple proved herself yet again when she solved the nurse's murder mystery accurately using all clues given in Sir Henry's story. She used clues such as the litmus paper and the smelling salts to help solve the mystery and she figured out how the Fortuneteller changed the color of the geranium due to past knowledge of nursing herself. Mrs. Marple has a wise insight which has "given her unlimited opportunities of observing human nature- under the microscope." (230) She cleverly solves the murder; her method of doing so shocked everyone. On the contrary, Mr. Jones lacks such skill and stupidly couldn't put the pieces of the puzzle together. He was investigating robberies and patrolling warehouses when he heard shots not too far away. Jones and his partner sprinted toward the open fire and foolishly shot into the darkness. It was almost as if Jones' own intuition was trying to make him realize he should stop firing, reminding him that his sons were mixed up into trouble and could very well be out there. He had flashbacks of his son Johnny Jr. "the other day when Johnny dropped a roll of bills from his pocket..." (Himes 16) In the back of his mind Jones thought about his son running around with young hoodlums. But he didn't stop. He fought back to keep himself alive and fired relentlessly into the darkness over and over again. Finally, when the light went on he realized what he had done, he had killed his two boys. He knew what it was like to have dead son's like them, killed by their own father.  Mrs. Marple and Mr. Jones have two very different approaches to solving murders. The female being rational while the male is quick to act with really thinking. The process each go through and the way in which they think, lead them to two very different endings, one satisfying and one not. Because Mrs. Marple was smart and people underestimated her as a detective makes __The Blue Geranium__ an interesting story to read.