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Human Response To Guilt In Agatha Christie's The Things They Carried

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By creating a story in which every character has committed a crime, Christie explores different human responses to the burden of a guilty conscience. Beginning with the first moments after the recorded voice reveals the guests crime, each character takes a different approach to dealing with his or her guilt. The character who publicly and self-righteously deny their crimes are tormented by guilt in private. General Macarthur, brusquely dismisses the claim that he killed his wife's lover “What kind of practical joke was that? His hand was shaking. His shoulders sagged. He looked suddenly ten years older” (Christie 39). By the following day guilt so overwhelms him that he resignedly wants to die. On the other hand the people who own up to their

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