Detectives, witnesses and
suspects have a lot in common with actors as they rehearse stories, play parts
and deliver lines, whereas Alleyn is straightforward and direct with a
self-deprecating sense of humour. When he lists the suspects, their possible
motives and alibis, he draws up a chart which is included in the chapter Entr’acte to assist the reader as much
as himself – naturally, everybody has one.
There is snobbery towards people’s
age, size, class and accent, although most prejudice, however, occurs towards
the Maori people, as exemplified through the character of Dr Rangi Te Pokiha. A
considerably hateful comedian describes Te Pokiha as “the black quack” and “the
light-brown medico”, and when Te Pokiha retaliates (he has also been called silly,
obviously wrong, and a liar), we are told, “The whites of his eyes seemed to
become more noticeable and his heavy brows came together… [His] warm voice
thickened. His lips coarsened into a sort of snarl. He showed his teeth like a
dog… the odd twenty per cent of pure savage.” One suspect asserts, “There is no
colour bar in this country,” but people still use the expression ‘a white man’
to denote a person of good character. Alleyn describes the country and the
people with an anthropological aspect that is offensive to modern readers.
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