Ariadne Oliver - Literary Function

Literary Function

Even in the one novel in which she appears without Poirot (The Pale Horse), Mrs Oliver does not function as a detective, in that she rarely participates in the investigation and contributes only tangentially to the solution. In Cards on the Table, she does interview some of the suspects, and in Elephants Can Remember, she again interviews witnesses, but none of the essential ones. She is more usually used for comic relief or to provide a deus ex machina through her intuitive or sudden insights, a function that is especially apparent in Third Girl, in which she furnishes Poirot with virtually every important clue, or in The Pale Horse, where she inadvertently helps the investigators to determine the type of poison used to kill the murder victims, saving the life of another character.

Further functions of Mrs Oliver are to enable Christie to discuss overtly the techniques of detective fiction, to contrast the more fanciful apparatuses employed by mystery authors with the apparent realism of her own plots, and to satirise Christie's own experiences and instincts as a writer. Mrs Oliver therefore serves a range of literary purposes for Christie.