Darkness
Darkness is a metaphor that has become ubiquitous in fiction since around the middle of the last century. “He did not like to think of it, and because he did not like to think of it he was all the more decided in his mind that that was exactly what he was going to think of until by some means or other, light should shine out of the darkness and he should see clearly what he had come here to see.” In this instance, the usage of darkness as a metaphor is in the form of ignorance before the arrival of intellectual illumination. The detective on the case, Hercule Poirot, is ready to consciously remain in the darkness surrounding the mystery of the murder because that is the only way he can illuminate the mystery in order to figure it out.
Time
Poirot is accused by one character of seeming to be constantly perturbed by the past. To which he responds, “The past is the father of the present.” What he means by this metaphor is that the only way to figure out a mystery occurring in the present is to figure out what is troubling about the past. This is a common investigative device used by literary detectives. The solution to figuring out a mystery is often instigated by something happening in the past that was out of character enough to trouble the detective.
Satisfaction
For much of the novel, Poirot’s investigation is built on a foundation of suspicion about a forged will. His friend, a popular mystery writer, informs him he has been on the wrong path because there was no forgery. With a sense of satisfaction after making this revelation, she tells him to “Put that in your mustache and smoke it.” This is a play on a familiar metaphor about putting something in one’s pipe and smoking it. This phrase is a way of informing someone they were wrong and must accept the truth now that they have been presented with it. The replacement of “pipe” with “mustache” is a reference to Poirot’s definitive physical attribute, an immediately recognizable mustache upturned at its two ends.
Computers
Poirot’s author friend uses a more direct metaphor to characterize the detective’s investigative technique. “Do you know what you sound like? A computer.” She goes on to explain that his technique is to program himself by collecting information for the purpose of seeing what conclusion comes out. Interestingly, when she asks what would happen if the conclusion that came out was wrong, Poirot’s response is that such a thing is impossible. Computers, he insists—meaning, metaphorically, himself—do not make mistakes. His writer friend counters this assertion with the error in calculating her light bill made by some computer.
Witchcraft
The story takes place during Halloween and so there are actually multiple references to witches. “Joyce, a sturdy thirteen-year-old, seized the bowl of apples. Two rolled off it and stopped, as though arrested by a witch’s wand, at Mrs. Oliver’s feet.” The simile here suggests an appropriately supernatural explanation behind the unexpected behavior of the apples which seems to violate the laws of physics. This reference to witchcraft helps facilitate the ominous atmosphere of the Halloween setting. Joyce will very shortly be drowned in the vat used for apple bobbing. This simile thus serves to create an undertone of menace based on the legends of witches being responsible for killing children in numerous folk and fairy tales.
