Then there are some minor points that strike me as suggestive - for instance, the position of Mrs. Hubbard's sponge bag, the name of Mrs. Armstrong's mother, the detective methods of Mr. Hardman, the suggestion of Mr. MacQueen that Ratchett himself destroyed the charred note we found, Princess Dragomiroff's Christian name, and a grease spot on a Hungarian passport.
Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express, 1934, pg. 205
Over Determination is to take seemingly inconsequential interruptions of the conscious mind by the unconscious— whether that be an image, a thought, or a phrase— and to address it as something substantial— as a deeper reflection of an individual’s psychology or identity. Even the smallest of behaviours, traits or preferences can be viewed through Over Determination as intense mirrors of the self, or of innate cultural meaning (Mansfield, 2000, pg. 29-30). Murder mystery novels such as Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie, are excellent examples of the way in which small, outwardly trivial, slips can be observed as revealing parts of the unconscious— inner motivations, repressed feelings and the like.
