Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews April 3, 2023 March 27, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
The Jury system has a rather unusual interpretation in Murder on The Orient Express, at least by Western standards. A self-appointed group of twelve, the same number of people in a jury, convicts Ratchett to death and then murder him. The idea of a "jury" or the Justness of the jury becomes thematic material. The Jury is a symbol of Justness. The Armstrong family justified killing a many because they gathered twelve people together who through that Ratchett should die. However, their idea of a jury is nothing like the courtroom jury or jury as the state intended. They like Poirot, did not rely on any sort of law or otherwise to form their "jury." The "Jury" system is simply a consensus; it puts the responsibility of one man's death on the shoulders of many, rather than one. This is what the state does, the state assigns a jury who decides the fate of a man, but there is control over who is selected to be on the jury. If juries were made up of victims family members the jury would certainly be biased. However, we cannot know for sure that Ratchett did not commit the crime. The novel states that Ratchett, or Cassetti, "gave the law the slip," but he may not have been the man who murdered Daisy Armstrong.
The novel constantly questions what a jury is and how "just," this system of justice is, especially when a jury is self-appointed. The final argument of the novel, consistent with Poirot and all the characters is that Ratchett's murder was "just." The jury they formed, and the consensus of twelve, was right and fair.
From talks on Prohibition to murder laws in the United States, law is wholly insufficient in Murder on The Orient Express. Prohibition laws are discussed when Poirot searches Hardman's suitcase for evidence. His suitcase is lined with bottles of liquor and he tells the men that Prohibition hasn't ever "worried me any." Hardman and M. Bouc even discuss the speakeasy (the hidden, illegal bars during prohibition). Hardman is planning on concealing his alcohol by the time he gets to Paris, "what's left over of this little lot will go into a bottle labeled hairwash." Prohibition has not curbed the drinking habits of Hardman.
The insufficiency of US law is exemplified by the fact that Ratchett is able to give US cops, "the slip." By means of enormous wealth and the "secret hold he had over various persons" he was acquitted from the crime. After he was let free, Ratchett (formerly Cassetti) changed his name and went to travel on his money. The book suggests that a murderer in America can go free if he has enough money and connections.
Because Ratchett escapes justice in the United States, the Armstrong family is determined to kill him and prevent him from hurting any more children. One of the main themes of the novel is the morality of murder-is it all right to kill a man, even if law has acquitted him? Is it ever all right to kill a man? The novel suggests, at least by Poirot and the passenger's standards, that murder is Ok under the right circumstances. If the crime is hideous, there are twelve people who agree that a person is truly guilty and that person is still on the loose, and therefore it is fine to kill him. There are obvious emotional costs, most of the servants are in tears throughout the novel, but, overall, the Armstrongs are successful and probably will not receive punishment for their crime.
Please wait while we process your payment