World Book Day -Top five conspiracy theories in literature

Happy World Book Day everyone!

I love World Book Day and I’ve wanted to make an article about it for several years.

I wanted to combine my love of literature with another passion of mine, conspiracies theories. I enjoy reading conspiracy theories and some, admittedly a very small number, turn out to be true. You can read my previous article about real world conspiracy theories by clicking anywhere in this sentence but today I’m looking at theories in the world of literature. You can decide how many of these theories are believable for yourself.

Warning, this article contains spoilers for all of the works mentioned. Surprisingly, due to some of the topics discussed I also need to put a general trigger warning in place. With that out of the way, please enjoy.

1) Poirot arrests the wrong suspect – The Murder of Rodger Ackroyd

Although Poirot first appearance was in the novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles, he rose to fame in his third novel (Christie’s fourth) The Murder of Rodger Ackroyd.

In The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Roger Ackroyd is… murdered and Poirot is summoned to deduce who the murderer is. Poirot correctly reasons that anyone who was in the Ackroyd house at the time of the death could be the killer. After interviewing each suspect, collecting evidence and solving several subplots, Poirot gathers the cast of characters for his grand demount. He accuses Dr James Sheppard, the family doctor and narrator of the novel, of the crime. The final chapter serves as the Doctor’s confession and suicide note.

Although the novel was well received, some critics and readers have argued that Poirot arrested the wrong character. They claim that Caroline, the Doctor’s sister, killed Rodger Ackroyd and that James took the blame for her. Throughout the novel Caroline attempts to assist Poirot by using information gathered by her “secret service of milkmen and parlour maids” but her clues hinder Poirot rather than help. Although there is tension between Caroline and James throughout the book it has been suggested that James penned his false confession to protect his sibling. Although Poirot is considered the world’s greatest detective (at least he would say so) he isn’t infallible. There have been several occasions in later novels in which his initial deductions have been incorrect. If this theory is to be believed, did Poirot ever realise his mistake?

It is also worth noting that Caroline was the intended murderer before Christie had the idea of using a Watson like character as the antagonist. Interestingly the character of Caroline was so well received that Christie regretted not adding her to any future novels. The basis of Caroline served as the inspiration for Christie’s other famous detective Mrs Marple.

2) All of Dan Brown’s novels are real – The Robert Langdon series

The Robert Langdon series, better known as The Da Vinci Code series, is a collection of five books that explores alternative history through the use of symbolism, conspiracy theories and secret societies. Due to the nature of the novels, it was inevitable that conspiracy theories would arise about them. There are two main theories relating to the Robert Langdon series. The first is that the events that take place within the book’s pages are completely real, including people being murdered inside the Louvre Museum. The second and slightly more plausible theory is that Dan Brown is exposing real world secret societies through the guise of literature.

There are two pieces of evidence that give both theories some credence. The first is that the author of the series, Dan Brown, has insisted on multiple occasions that aside from the character Robert Langdon and the plot he follows, every aspect of his novel is accurate. Although each novel is prefaced by a disclaimer claiming that the contents are fictional, fans argue that these were insisted upon by the publishers in order to avoid lawsuits. The second key piece of evidence lays in the original dust jacket of the Da Vinci Code. The dust jacket contains a cypher leading to the Kryptos Statue outside the CIA headquarters in Langley. I’ve spoken about the hidden code in the dust jacket before, click anywhere in this sentence to learn more about it. Although the cypher doesn’t link to the above theories directly, its existence does suggest that there are deeper and more complex clues about the book series waiting to be found.

3) Willie Wonka mirrors Danti’s Inferno – Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

If you are somehow unaware, the plot of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory involves a young boy called Charlie Bucket who wins a golden ticket to tour a chocolate factory owned by the mysterious Willy Wonka. As Charlie and his Grandpa progress on their tour, each other ticket winner are fall victim to their respective vices leaving Charlie as the only remaining child. As a reward for his good behaviour Charlie is given ownership of the factory.

Although Charlie and the Chocolate factory is often disregarded as a silly children’s book it does bare remarkable similarities to another famous piece of literature, Dante’s Inferno. Dante’s Inferno is an epic poem written in the 14th century in which the author of the piece, Dante, is given a tour through the different levels of hell each of which represents a different vice. These vices include greed, anger, lust, envy, gluttony, pride, and sloth.

These vices also fit the characters in Dahl’s novel.

Augustus Gloop portrays gluttony and almost drowns in a chocolate river.

Violet Beauregarde portrays envy and jealous of a new chewing gum Mr Wonka has invited, steals the gum, transforming herself into a giant human blueberry.

Veruca Salt portrays greed and falls down a garbage chute after chasing a nut-testing squirrels.

Mike Teavee portrays the sin of sloth as he is infamous for doing nothing apart from watching TV all day.

Although this leaves several sins unaccounted for, they would have been portrayed by other characters present in the first draft but later editing out. You can read more about the first draft of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by clicking here and reading a previous article. There are other similarities to consider. Both Dante and Charlie are led by a guide, Virgil and Mr Wonka respectively and at the end of both texts the main character ascend with Charlie riding a great glass elevator into the sky and Dante climbing the literal devil to escape hell. For what its worth Gene Wilder’s speech in the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in the tunnel of terror mentions hell.

What do you think? Do you think Roald Dahl was, at the very least, inspired by Dante’s Inferno? If you’ve read some of Dahl’s other works for adults you will know he can be quite a dark writer. Personally, while there are a lot of coincidences and Dahl was certainly a dark writer, I don’t believe it. I much prefer the idea that Wonka orders the Oompa Loompas to kidnap members of the public and uses their body parts in his products, like Sweeny Todd.

4) Mr Darcy made his money from the Atlantic Slave Trade – Pride and Prejudice

I’ve never connected with Pride and Prejudice or any of Jane Austen’s novels. While I can appreciate their impact on literature and our society as a whole I will happily admit that I always struggle to read Austen’s work. Apologise to any hard-core Austen fans out there.

One of the most famous characters from Pride and Prejudice, some would argue the most famous character, is Fitzwilliam Darcy Esquire better known as Mr Darcy. If you’ve not read the novel or if you need a refresher, Mr Darcy is the owner of his family estate in Derbyshire which is said to earn him at least ten thousand pounds a year. He is also the romantic interest of Elizabeth Bennet and the two share a complicated and often hostile relationship throughout the novel. Although Mr Darcy and his friend Mr Bingley are involved in the coal industry, the proceeds of this do not account for their lavish lifestyle. It is never addressed in the novel where Mr Darcy and his friend Mr Bingley acquired their wealth from, leading to much speculation among fans. Admittedly, it doesn’t matter in relation to the plot, however there is only one method available in the early 1800’s in which the two could have made their fortune.

The theory states that Mr Darcy sponsored one or several slave ships. These ships sailed to Africa, captured natives and then transported them to America to work on the plantations before returning the profits of their sales to England. The idea that Mr Darcy took part in the Atlantic Slave Trade does sour the image of his character who went on to inspire other male romantic icons such as Mr Rochester and Rhett Butler however I would say that this theory is perhaps the most plausible theory on this list.

5 – Jack Torrance from The Shining wrote Apt Pupil – The Shining/Apt Pupil

For my final literature theory, we delve into the mind of one of my favourite writers Stephen King.

In one of Stephen King’s most memorable books, The Shining, Jack Torrance, an alcoholic father with anger issues, takes up residence at the Overlook Hotel with his family as an off season caretaker. The family are subjected to a series of supernatural events with Jack eventually becoming possessed by the spirits that reside in the hotel. Although this fact is omitted in the film adaptation, in the source material, Jack is an inspiring writer who plans to use his time at the hotel to finish his novel.

In Apt Pupil, another Stephen King novel, psychotic student Todd Bowden discovers that a wanted Nazi war criminal, Kurt Dussander, is living in his neighbourhood under the name Arthur Denker and blackmails the Nazi in order to learn more about his culture. Soon Dussander gathers blackmail material on Bowden placing both monsters into an awkward and fragile relationship.

It is no secret to his fans that most of King’s works are connected to one another. I’ve covered this idea previous (click anywhere in these brackets to read more) but the connection between Apt Pupil and The Shining is more interesting than most other connections. Although details of Jack’s writing in The Shining are sparse, it was confirmed there is a character called Denker in the novel. The reason Jack Torrance accepted his caretaking Job at the Overlook Hotel was because he had been fired from his previous job as a teacher after breaking a student’s arm. The focus of Apt Pupil is a horrible student. Fans believe that within the Stephen King universe Jack Torrance was writing Apt Pupil.

I hope you enjoyed reading these posts. Which of these theories, if any, do you believe? Is there a famous conspiracy theory in literature that you particularly like. Like me know in the comments or on social media and I’ll see you next time.