Mah Jong

Somewhere in between the narrative, Christie inserts a game party involving a game of Mah-Jong that Dr Sheppard plays with his sister Caroline, Colonel Carter and Miss Gannett. Mah-Jong is an exotic Chinese game that was popular in the cold war era and was played in clubs during Christie’s time. Ostensibly a tilegame, Mah-Jong is a variation of the card game rummy that requires a player to outwit his opponents to stack tiles in a particular arrangement. The game calls for powers of concealment and an observant eye. However, the game party hosted at Sheppard’s house becomes much more than a mere game. It provides a meeting ground for the inhabitants and gives a glimpse of the society whose chief preoccupation is gossip: “our hobbies and recreations can be summed up in one word, gossip” (17).The game gives a veritable picture of the inhabitants of King’s Abbot with their penchant for gossip where they air and exchange their views.

 

The game of Mah-Jong can be read symbolically. It is similar to the murder mystery where players are suspects in the murder game who try to hide their cards. As in the card-game, all the concealments in the murder mystery eventually come to light. This analogy/parallel between the game and the murder mystery also gives an insight into Sheppard’s mind by the very way he plays the game. Sheppard remains quiet throughout the game/narrative and reveals nothing of his own thoughts while faithfully shedding light on everyone else. As the players gossip to entertain and outwit one another, Sheppard deftly hides his hand all along and cleverly practices the art of concealment. He gives no inkling before he lays out all the tiles to surprise everyone as the winner with a ‘perfect hand’. Sheppard’s way of playing is similar to the way he constructs his narrative. It shows us a reflection of his psyche where he conceals the truth simply by omitting its mention, by being reticent and keeping himself in the background to stay unnoticed. He keeps his cards close to his chest and secrecy is his characteristic trait. Much like the game he plays cleverly and secretly, he quietly goes about hiding his blackmailing business or his visit to the Three Boars. His writing and game playing styles are similar. What comes to the fore is Sheppard’s hubris to gloat over his achievements and a desire to outfox everyone. Having won the game and believing he “played rather cleverly”, he impulsively ends up sharing the discovery of the ring from the pond and regrets his act immediately since he wanted to conceal it. His game playing and narrative are all about withholding the whole truth. We shall look at the social milieu next as a convention of detective fiction was that the criminal had to belong to the same social class.

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