...And Then There Were None Agatha Christie ← Plot Overview → Eight people, all strangers to each other, are invited to Indian Island, off the English coast. Vera Claythorne, a former governess, thinks she has been hired as a secretary; Philip Lombard, an adventurer, and William Blore, an ex-detective, think they have been hired to look out for trouble over the weekend; Dr. Armstrong thinks he has been hired to look after the wife of the island’s owner. Emily Brent, General Macarthur, Tony Marston, and Judge Wargrave think they are going to visit old friends. When they arrive on the island, the guests are greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, the butler and housekeeper, who report that the host, someone they call Mr. Owen, will not arrive until the next day. That evening, as all the guests gather in the drawing room after an excellent dinner, they hear a recorded voice accusing each of them of a specific murder committed in the past and never uncovered. They compare notes and realize that none of them, including the servants, knows “Mr. Owen,” which suggests that they were brought here according to someone’s strange plan. As they discuss what to do, Tony Marston chokes on poisoned whiskey and dies. Frightened, the party retreats to bed, where almost everyone is plagued by guilt and memories of their crimes. Vera Claythorne notices the similarity between the death of Marston and the first verse of a nursery rhyme, “Ten Little Indians,” that hangs in each bedroom. The next morning...
Words: 4161 - Pages: 17
...And Then There Were None by AGATHA CHRISTIE CHAPTER 1 IN THE CORNER of a first-class smoking carriage, Mr. Justice Wargrave, lately retired from the bench, puffed at a cigar and ran an interested eye through the political news in the Times. He laid the paper down and glanced out of the window. They were running now through Somerset. He glanced at his watch-another two hours to go. He went over in his mind all that had appeared in the papers about Indian Island. There had been its original purchase by an American millionaire who was crazy about yachting-and an account of the luxurious modern house he had built on this little island off the Devon coast. The unfortunate fact that the new third wife of the American millionaire was a bad sailor had led to the subsequent putting up of the house and island for sale. Various glowing advertisements of it had appeared in the papers. Then came the first bald statement that it had been bought-by a Mr. Owen. After that the rurnours of the gossip writers had started. Indian Island had really been bought by Miss Gabrielle Turl, the Hollywood film star! She wanted to spend some months there free from all publicity! Busy Bee had hinted delicately that it was to be an abode for Royalty??! Mr. Merryweather had had it whispered to him that it had been bought for a honeymoon-Young Lord L-- had surrendered to Cupid at last! Jonas knew for a fact that it had been purchased by the Admiralty with a view to carrying out some very hush hush experiments...
Words: 53558 - Pages: 215
..."It is perfectly clear. Mr. Owen is one of us….” (Christie 150). These famous words from Agatha Christie’s novel, And Then There Were None, would define the murder mystery genre for generations to come. Her use of many literary devices, such as foreshadowing, symbolism, and similes, allowed her to truly express herself. Agatha Christie utilized the gramophone as foreshadowing for the identity of the killer, the 10 solider boys as a motif for the characters’ deaths, and the seaweed as a symbol of guilt and regret all to add suspense to her novel, And Then There Were None. The gramophone in Agatha Christie’s novel, And Then There Were None, foreshadowed who among them was Mr. Owen, thus adding suspense to the story. Near the beginning of the book, all of the characters gather to eat dinner, when suddenly a...
Words: 850 - Pages: 4
...Lynch (now as Subsidiary of Bank of America), Lehman Brothers and Bear Steams (sold to JPMorgan Chase) were the world top five investment banks in United States. They were the key players in the financial markets and make significant contribution to the economics. But when they failed, the consequences would also be extremely fatal. The 158 years old Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday 1:45am, September 15, 2008 (“Wikipedia: Lehman Brothers”, July 15, 2013). With a total assets of $639 billion and $619 billion in debts, Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy filing became the largest in history, It’s assets far surpassed those of previous bankrupt giants such as WorldCom and Enron (“IInvestopedia: Case Study", April 02, 2009). The collapse of the Lehman Brothers is contagious and even triggered the Global Financial Crisis. LEHMAN BROTHERS HISTORY Three brothers – Henry Lehman, Emanuel Lehman and Mayer Lehman in 1850, founded Lehman Brothers. Started as a normal dry-goods store, the brothers grew the business by buying and selling cotton to planters living in and around Montgomery, Alabama ("History of Lehman Brothers", n.d). Eventually the brothers built a cotton storage warehouse together with a cotton merchant John Wesley Durr in a brief partnership form. Thereafter in 1858, an office in New York was opened to fulfill the needs of the growing sales and trades. After Civic War, Lehman Brothers who already have a strong pressure in the cotton...
Words: 2793 - Pages: 12
...------------------------------------------------- Lehman Brothers Collapse ------------------------------------------------- Lehman Brothers Collapse Executive Summary The following report discusses and analyzes the events leading up to the failure of Lehman Brothers as well as outcomes and repercussions of one of the largest bankruptcy cases to date. The first part of this paper describes the primary factors that contributed to the ultimate demise of Lehman Brothers. The main factors that lead to the crisis include, but are not limited to; the misrepresentation of financial statements, a complete lack of internal control, accounting as well as management collusion, managerial fraud, increased moral hazard, and the overpayment of executives within the firm. Misrepresentation of the financial statements and the misuse of accounting practices was the main reason for the Collapse of Lehman Brothers. It was said that upper management violated the Sarbanes-Oxley Act through the use of questionable and unethical accounting practices, more specifically through the use of Repo 105 transactions. The second part of this paper addresses the underlying causes and issues relative to the study of financial ethics. This paper also addresses those who were involved as well as affected by the events that took place in the Lehman Brothers scandal. After evaluating the reasons for Lehman Brothers failure, the report discusses possible courses of action to take in order...
Words: 3830 - Pages: 16
...The Wright Brothers and their Flying Machine (HBS 9-811-034) Question 1 What technological bottlenecks needed to be resolved for manned flight to become a realistic possibility? The possibility to fly with an object heavier than air had first to be proven. Scientists first try to understand how birds were flying, and many computations were done, mainly based on assumptions. In 1800’s, George Cayley designed an airplane with wings, and Otto Lilienthal realized that the wing shape was the key to maintain lift. The biggest technological problem was how to design this wing so that it could lift an object. The Wright Brothers in the end of the 19th century realized that the primary problem with past planes and gliders was that of balance. They developed the concept of “wing warping”, a way to present wings to the air at different angles of incidences and thus secure unequal lifts on the two sides. Finally, one of the last technological aspect to be resolved for developing a manned flight was to be able to understand and compute the lift of a wing. Lilienthal already began by creating table of results from his experiment, but the Wright Brothers couldn’t use it at first because they were not in the same conditions as him. Question 2 How would you characterize the process of technological discovery leading to the development of the Wright brothers’ flying machine? The process of technological discoveries relied a lot on exchange between scientists, engineers and inventors...
Words: 705 - Pages: 3
...Lessons from Lehman Brothers: Will We Ever Learn? Steven Figueroa, Adrian Bland, Victoria Fabuluje, Amy Ramkey, Carmen M. Ortiz MGT/521 03/10/14 CHRISTINE GNIEDZIEJKA Lessons from Lehman Brothers: Will We Ever Learn? 2. What was the culture at Lehman Brothers like? How did this culture contribute to the company's downfall? Anyone knows that rewarding bad or illegal behavior can lead to the making of a person who is irresponsible and reckless. This is a general description of the type of employees involved in the Lehman Brothers company culture. The Lehman Brothers culture was out of control and a blind eye was turned to any high risk deals and or illegal modifications done to the company balance sheet. Many failed or wrong decisions made by management often went without consequence. In fact, individuals making any high risk or questionable deals were treated like superstars or moneymakers rather than irresponsible or uncalculated decision makers. This type of reward system can only draw the attention of the greedy and crooked minded. The type of culture created was a recipe of disaster for the Lehman Brothers company. There were some employees that did not agree with many of the choices made by upper management. But, when they attempted to voice their opinion or concerns they were ignored and overruled leaving them no choice but to follow suit. By ignoring any standards, ethics or controls to guide the Lehman Brothers culture the employees were left to express their...
Words: 1151 - Pages: 5
...learn as much as they could . There two sons Wilber and Orville Wright are the first to built a successful airplane. Wilber was born August 16 1867and Orville was born August 19 1871.both brothers loved any thing mechanical ,loved to tear things done and built it back up . Wilber finished highs school but was never able to get his diploma ,he was going to attend Yale,because of an accident that happens wile playing ice hockey Wilber got hit in the face with a hockey stick,even though he wasn’t heart badly he lost he’s front to. And so because of the accident Wilber withdrew from going to Yale as planned,so he spent the next few years tacking care of his mother who was ill. And as for Orville Wright he want to high school but dropped out on his junior year, to open a printing shop in 1889.Wilber and Orville had always been close to each other. The brother’s often worked as a team,they have places they started together like The West Side News Paper,The Wright cycle company but that is not all the Wright brothers have discovered. They discovers the first in the world fling machine . It all began in 1896 when the brothers could not stop thinking about fling. For the next two years or so thought and thought about fling and how they could do it ,read booked about bards,fling machines rose two years were busy with lots of researching etc... To there delight they had a...
Words: 973 - Pages: 4
...history when they successfully launched the first motorized airplane; not only on our society as a whole but also the United States military and the way wars would be fought forever. Because of this one specific day in history the Wright brothers are accredited for the first of countless days in our history that we contribute what we know today as aviation. On that one day, the brothers sustained a total of four flights with only a small twelve horse power engine with the longest flight lasting a mere fifty-nine seconds at a distance of 852 feet. On the fourth flight of the day, Flyer 1 tumbled and crashed. Obviously not all was lost, history was made and inventions in the aviation industry began to grow. The historical first flight by Orville and Wilbert Wright did not make the front page news; it was very trivial headlines at the time. For instance, page ten of the Washington Times article dated 19 December 1903 in column four, High Gale No Bar to Flying Machine. The article described the flying machine and how the brothers got off the ground. The New York Tribune 19 December 1903 also had a small article but not until page five; Flying Machine Works Successful Trial by Ohio Men with Machine on Box Kite Plan. By 1909 The Wright brothers had set up an Airplane factory in Dayton Ohio, it was to be the first and the largest airship factory in the country. The plan was to produce four airplanes per month and employ eighty people. The target market was for personal use...
Words: 3248 - Pages: 13
...Wright brothers, grew up in Dayton, Ohio with their three other, less knowledgeable siblings. Neither of the famous Wright brothers received their high school diplomas, however, the lack of a college education did not disturb their aptitude for understanding current technological advancements. After learning about the newest invention of the bicycle, the Wright brothers opened their own bicycle repair and sales shop in 1892 and used the funding for their profound fascination in flight. In 1896, three salient aeronautical events occurred, intensifying Orville and Wilbur’s interest. Thus,...
Words: 805 - Pages: 4
... Lehman Brothers is no more. Merrill Lynch has gone down the Bank of America maw. AIG too could go belly up. With a doubt, these developments in America are the most shocking events to have hit global financial markets. So where did it all begin? And what does it mean for the Indian stock markets? Find out. . . What is (or was) Lehman Brothers? America's fourth-largest investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc has filed the biggest bankruptcy petition known to mankind. The 158-year-old firm was founded by brothers Henry, Emanuel and Mayer Lehman, Jewish immigrants to the US from Germany, in 1850. Henry set up a general store in Alabama in 1844 and was later joined by his brothers. In 1850 they set up the merchant bank in New York after having made money in railway bonds. So what went wrong? Compiled by Rediff Business Desk Lehman Bros, which till June 2008 had not reported a quarterly loss even once, had earlier survived many an economic crises, like railroad bankruptcies of the 1800s, the Great Depression in the 1930s, and the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management in the 1990s. Thus the collapse of the giant investment bank came as a major shock for the entire world markets that plunged after Lehman filed a Chapter 11 petition with US Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. The $613 billion (some estimates put the size at $639 billion) bankruptcy thus throws up the question: why did the Wall Street giant go bust? Here's why. . . Why did Lehman Brothers go bankrupt...
Words: 1864 - Pages: 8
...Lessons from Lehman Brothers: Will We Ever Learn? MGT 521 September 9, 2013 Introduction Lehman Brothers financial services filed bankruptcy on September 15, 2008, in the New York Southern District U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Resulting in an immediate 500 point drop in the Dow Jones (Did Ernst & Young Really Assist Financial Fraud? 2011). This day became known as ‘‘Dark Monday’’ (Donaldson, 2012). This was to date, the largest bankruptcy filing in history unleashing a “crisis of confidence that threw financial markets worldwide into turmoil, sparking the worst crisis since the Great Depression.” However this financial icon’s fall is no surprise. The bankruptcy examiner released reports saying that the firm’s executives and auditor, “lambasted” for what they did to cause the collapse of the firm (Robbins & Coulter, 2010). The Lehman Brother culture was one of risk and reward. At the company, “Excessive risk taking by employees was openly lauded and rewarded handsomely. Employees knew they could give risky ideas and they would get rewards for them. Individuals making questionable deals were hailed and treated as ‘conquering heroes’.” (Robbins & Coulter, 2010, pp. 147-148). If anyone would question decisions made or speak out in disagreement, executives would not listen. In addition, the executives would overrule and go with the least desirable decision. Most companies would be wary of taking so many risks and only give reward after that...
Words: 1005 - Pages: 5
...Krysta Desper Mr. Connors U.S. History I CPS 10 C 17 January 2013 Band of Brothers In the summer of 1942, young men in Army training at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, are given an opportunity to be part of a unique unit of paratroopers. This unit offers $50 dollars a month extra for hazardous duty pay, which draws a lot of the volunteers. These men begin a very rigorous training regimen under Captain Sobel, whom most of the men come to hate. Their training includes basic infantry skills - use and maintenance of various weapons, map reading, and communications. They also practice jumping with parachutes, beginning with towers of varying heights, then to the actual jump from an airplane. The hardest part of their training is a run they must make, up to the top of Mount Currahee, which is an Indian name that means We Stand Alone Together. After several long months of this training, the men of Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, are shipped to Uppottery, England, where they continue their training. They are being prepared for the greatest military maneuver ever undertaken; the D-Day invasion of Normandy. The 506 is to parachute behind the German lines and work their way back towards the beach, to meet the Allies there, and hopefully cut off German supply lines to the front in the process. On June 6, 1944, the invasion comes, after having been postponed for bad weather. The drops do not go well, due to anti-aircraft fire and low visibility, but as the men hit the ground, they...
Words: 1570 - Pages: 7
...Introduction History of Lehman Brothers Subprime Crisis Explained Vicious circle & the fall of Lehman Brothers Organizational Culture at Lehman Brothers Future Conclusion Introduction Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, aka the fourth-largest investment financial institution in the US (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch), was a 158 years old bank that had to declare its bankruptcy in September 2008. Led by its CEO, Richard Fuld, Lehman Brothers was a glorious and respected investment bank for which some of the most experienced and intelligent financial analysts/investors were working. How come then, than in a less than one week, the whole structure imploded and led to one historical bankruptcy and with the same occasion, became the trigger of the 2nd most dramatic worldwide financial crisis? This essay has been written, in what seemed to me, the most logical way to approach this very interesting and complex subject. A quick peak to Lehman Brothers’ history will help the reader to understand how, starting from very humble origins, Lehman Brothers became one of the top investment financial institutions in the US before its collapse. The financial crisis of 2008, also called the subprime crisis was the biggest reason of LB’s downfall. Having done some researches, the reader will be explained, in a very intuitive but complete manner, how this crisis began and how it evolved until it affected the whole world. One can already agree that LB’s got caught...
Words: 2584 - Pages: 11
...Barclays Acquisition of Lehman Brothers Background Barclays PLC, one of the main saving banks in the United Kingdom, agreed Sept. 16, 2008, to purchase the volume of Lehman Brothers Inc. for $1.75 billion. It has acquired parts of Lehman's equities commerce in Europe and took on some Lehman workers in Asia. Lehman, the fourth major asset bank in the United States, was one of the victims of the subprime advance disaster that led to the administration stand security of Bear Stearns in March 2008 and the conquest of advance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the U.S. Treasury in advance in September of 2007. Worth as much as $45 billion in early 2007, Lehman incurred almost $4 billion in losses in the third quarter has seen its stock worth fall down and was faced with disciplinary downgrades in its credit rating, which would have made it tremendously hard to raise much-needed capital. (Clark, 2008) Fuld who was the Head of Lehman sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy defense for Lehman on Sept. 15 2007 after U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson made it obvious that the administration would not spend any of taxpayers money to fund any of Lehman’s faulty asset. Under Chapter 11, which shields a corporation from creditors' lawsuits while it reorders its finances, Lehman became more attractive to Barclays; the British bank then bought Lehman's choicest bits devoid of assuming its more than US$600 billion in liabilities. Under the terms of the contract, which got approval from the insolvency...
Words: 2852 - Pages: 12
