View of Iraqis in Murder in Mesopotamia

VickiMG

I've been searching online to find an answer to my question and haven't found it so thought I'd see if this community knows anything. 

In Murder in Mesopotamia, Nurse Leatheran makes some rather offensive comments about "the natives." For example, she questions whether Mrs. Leidner is spending too much time alone with natives, thus causing her "fancies." She also describes the Iraqi seen talking to Father Lavigny as "very dark, a dirty dark yellow color." 

Is there any indication if these comments reflect Christie's views or if she is merely showing the prevailing xenophobic views of people of the day?

P_Lombard

I would have to re-read the novel to give you a more definite answer to your question, but the impression I get from reading other Christie novels is that, unfortunately, these offensive comments may reflect Christie's views. To get a sense of an author's views, you have to look at what ideas and/or descriptions pop up over and over again throughout the body of their work. In all of Christie's stories that I can think of, people from the Middle East are generally portrayed negatively. While reducing people from the Middle East to stereotypes, she does not (as some people do today) assume that cultural or religious differences automatically make people from this region evil. If you read They Came to Baghdad, you will find very similar offensive descriptions of Iraqis. Marcus Tio, the owner of the hotel where Victoria Jones stays, is definitely a stereotype and Christie clearly intends for us to laugh at him. Another instance of a Middle Eastern man being reduced to a stereotype to amuse her audience is Christie's play version of Appointment with Death. While the dragoman is made fun of, Lady Westholme's offensive treatment of him is also a source of comic relief. The way I read Christie's views of the Middle East is that she has accepted and exploits for comic effect some of the offensive stereotypes of the Middle East that circulated in her time (and, sadly, still circulate today), but also disapproved of those like Lady Westholme and one of the villains in They Came to Baghdad who think they can treat people from the Middle East anyway they please. Christie seems to view the Middle East as exotic place where people behave very differently from how they behave in England, and while she can be overly critical of these differences, she sometimes shows admiration for the ordinary people who populate the Middle East (like the cinema men in They Came to Baghdad). That is my impression of Christie's view of the Middle East, but I would be more than happy to hear other views if anybody disagrees with my interpretations.

ChristieFanForLife

P_Lombard said:

The way I read Christie's views of the Middle East is that she has accepted and exploits for comic effect some of the offensive stereotypes of the Middle East that circulated in her time (and, sadly, still circulate today), but also disapproved of those like Lady Westholme and one of the villains in They Came to Baghdad who think they can treat people from the Middle East anyway they please. Christie seems to view the Middle East as exotic place where people behave very differently from how they behave in England, and while she can be overly critical of these differences, she sometimes shows admiration for the ordinary people who populate the Middle East (like the cinema men in They Came to Baghdad). That is my impression of Christie's view of the Middle East, but I would be more than happy to hear other views if anybody disagrees with my interpretations.

So from your assessment and observations, it sounds as if you don't think the offensive comments and stereotypes in her books reflected how she felt but rather displayed the reality of what people actually thought of those from the Middle East and the area itself and that Christie was simply writing the truth -- the reality of what people thought.

I never read her book "Come, Tell Me How You Live" but from anyone who has ever read it what were her views of the Middle East and the people over there? Did she display any prejudices just as the characters from her books or did she speak kindly of them and their country? 

taliavishay-arbel

I read "Come, tell me how you live". (by the way, the title is borrowed from Lewis Carrol's "Through the looking glass and what Alice saw there"), While she does present some people in a critical light, on the whole she is accepting and even admiring. Here and there there was a slight patronizing tone. I have to reread it, and then I'll try to be more precise.