Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect

Several techniques are used to increase the text’s appearance of verisimilitude. How do these choices influence readers’ understanding of the book’s purpose as metafiction? Use textual evidence to explain.

One of the book’s thematic concerns is The Foibles of Literary Culture and Authorial Ego. Where would you rank Ernie’s ego among those of the other authors at the beginning of the novel, and how does it change throughout the course of the novel? Highlight his transformation through textual evidence.

Ernie and the other characters use language to influence others, foregrounding the theme of Language as a Tool to Manipulate Perception. Does this contradict Ernie’s contention that he’s a reliable, “fair-play” narrator? Does it make the book more or less engaging? Why or why not?

Juliette claims that Ernie treats her like a side character in a story in which he’s the protagonist. What evidence supports this in Ernie’s narrative choices, and how does his treatment of Juliette change by the novel’s end?

The symbolic motif of false deaths relates to the “ghosts” of the past that haunt several characters. Choose a character whose past won’t stay buried and trace the impact of past events on this character throughout the novel.

One of the most notable features of Ernie’s narrative voice is his sense of humor. Using textual evidence, examine the tone of this humor and the techniques he uses to create it.

How does the novel both obey and undermine the conventions of golden-age mysteries? How does this balance allow the text to both parody these classic mysteries and illustrate the possibility of creativity within the limits of genre?

One of the text’s metafictional tools is allusion. What internal and external allusions does it employ, and how do they contribute to the text’s meaning? Use textual evidence to explain.