Subjects:
seems. In dealing with the first theme, I gathered this impression from the text when Watson is describing Holmes' habits of mentally rearranging facts for a case for sometimes days at a time with no sleep.
This description helped me to understand the urgency Holmes' had for the cases in which he was involved in, by him not sleeping and going over every possible scenario of a given case it better prepares
him to solve the crime. This also showed me Doyle did make Holmes' out to be a man of very strong character and dedication. With Watson, the theme of urgency also plays a role, this is shown in his
willingness, and apparent eagerness, to follow Holmes anywhere at any given time, leaving behind his life as a successful Do
. . .
an appearance no one could have ever imagined, to the ending of the story with the homeless vagrant being none other than Neville St. These 2 separate but equal actions show to me the dedication and urgency Doyle tries to tie in with his characters, thereby in a
sense making them heroes and legends of their time.
These 2 themes were the most prevalent when I read the story and sort of stood out more than any other themes Doyle may have tried to set into the text. This theme lends to the story that outward appearances are not
to be taken as fact until proven. I enjoyed the story especially due to the all the little hidden references and
character descriptions, the story really made me want to go back and read it again, not out of fear of something i had missed or misunderstood, but more so to see just how these themes are laid out and
played on through the story.
Things are not always what they seem. Clair once thought to have been a murdered man, now found as a professional
beggar. When Sherlock Holmes tells Watson to accompany him, he
seems all to eager to follow and be of any assistance he can to his old friend. The eagerness and urgency of the
characters, as well as the deceiving outward appearances of the characters were the references I related closest with in the story. In fact, by the end of my second reading I almost felt stupid for not seeing what the author was trying to show me during my initial reading, however I was so engrossed with the
apparent murder and the locations, that I completely missed the point the author was trying to make, which I would go so far as to say, was what Doyle was trying to do. This theme
of disguise is so prevalent throughout the story it was almost obvious what the outcome would be, but I didn't put the facts together in the order they were given, they were given in a specific order i believe,
beginning with the description of Whitney, moving onto Sherlock Holmes in the Opium Den disguised as the addict, and finally concluding with the orange haired beggar, being St. However, upon closer examination and a more thorough re-read of the story I almost put the pieces together and could have possibly solved the case myself without reading the ending.
Essay's Topics
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