Children’s Rights, PTSD and Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap

Abstract

Although one of Agatha Christie’s most famous plays The Mousetrap has been loved and continually performed for close to three-quarters of a century, scholarly research on the play is limited. The lack of academic interest might be an inevitable devaluation of the play claiming sentimental popularity or the commercial orientation associated with the play. Despite these claims, Christie’s social commentary and awareness of messages about social issues are tangible. Like an imperceptible mousetrap, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can trap the mind of a person who has experienced trauma. When Agatha Christie published her play The Mousetrap in 1952, PTSD was called shell-shock and primarily associated with invisible war trauma. Today PTSD is also associated with other traumas such as child abuse. The application of PTSD to childhood trauma emphasizes the need for children’s rights legislation and competent mental health and social services for victims of childhood abuse symbolized in Christie’s play as three blind mice. This article aims to provide an empathetic understanding of the abstract concepts of PTSD and child abuse and focuses on putting a 21st-century face on the 1950s play by approaching it as a commentary on failed social services by focusing on elements of child protection as provided by child welfare systems, legal systems, and school systems. It connects the effects of PTSD in childhood trauma to the play’s plot and emphasizes the need for children’s rights legislation and competent mental health and social services for victims of childhood abuse today.