Sherlock Holmes and the K.K.K.

 Author's Note: Most of the stories in Sherlock Holmes are fiction. The case holds true in The Five Orange Pips, but the conflict feels more real. This is because the K.K.K is in this story, and they were all too real. And to minimize confusion, a pip is a seed.

A mysterious five orange seeds arrive in the mail, and a note asking for papers. What papers, who's sending this, why me? For answers, none other than the famous Sherlock Holmes is contacted. It is all figured out, but it is too late. The man is dead. This is the story of The Five Orange Pips. In the story, the man is killed, by none other than the infamous Ku Klux Klan. This I connected to real life, because it is something I actually knew existed. The majority of the book I felt was some sort of made up fantasy, but with this story, it actually felt like something real.

The whole book is dealing with made up characters, and for what I know, made up mysteries. However, in The Five Orange Pips, it's all too real. In a sense. I feel it is actually unlikely for this to be a real story. The plot may have been made up, but the antagonist of the story was not. We learned about the Ku Klux Klan once in school, so I know a little background of them, and this made the story more exciting to read. It also made me realize the seriousness of the story, that the K.K.K. is not to mess around with. Knowing about the general evil in the story made me feel more connected to it.

Of the stories, this one felt the most connected. The other stories were hard to connect to, seeing as they are set a hundred years ago in a different country. Not only that, as a whole nothing really happened that made me think of a connection. The Five Orange Pips was the outlier of the stories, I felt it took a break from the usual romantic fantasy of the book over to a more serious and  real life situation. This story seemed like a real life matter with real life people, and that made me connect to it.

221 B, Baker Street

Author's Note: The famous Sherlock Holmes lives on Baker Street. Although it is not just a house. It speaks of the past between Watson and Holmes, and gives ideas of Holmes's personality.

The door holds memories of great times, the light of the well-lit interior streams out the windows and into the night. The fire washes the home in a clean warmth, the books lining the wall speak of knowledge. The man who takes residence here is the renowned Sherlock Holmes,  with his long coat, double-brimmed hat, and clay pipe. Dr. Watson used to live with Sherlock, back in the "old days." This apartment is important to the book as it is Sherlock Holmes's  headquarters, and sometimes where he solves his iconic mysteries.

In the story, Watson sometimes remembers the unforgettable times he spent at the apartment. Him and Sherlock used to be partners in crime, or partners against crime, so to say.  They lived together as friends and companions, solving crime after crime together. Eventually, Watson got married and moved out to live with his wife. It is at this time when the stories in the book take place. He still helps Holmes, just not as avid as he used to. It helps make a sense of the history between Sherlock and Watson. It makes it so you can understand Holmes's and Watson's past better.

Not only holding memories of the past, it is where lots of the story takes place. When Holmes is not traveling to the scene of the crime, he works out of his comfortable domain on Baker Street. So many things are found inside the apartment. Records of everyone, an encyclopedia set, a fireplace, tons of stuff. It creates a vivid image of the probably neat but almost crowded interior of his home. Holmes will sit down in a chair beside the fire and smoke his pipe, eyes closed, and solve a mystery. It makes you understand Sherlock Holmes's personality, as what I believe is casual and laid back, intelligent and knowledgeable. His home creates part of a personality, and holds part of the plot.

The apartment is a very relevant part of the story. It gives an image of the past between Holmes and Watson. The two are good friends, and their history shows through the house. The home  gives hints about the personality of the great Sherlock Holmes, and his quiet and intelligent ways of reasoning. It is also, of course, where many parts of the book take place. The apartment holds memories of the past, and of adventure. It is certainly an important and influential part to the story.

 

Sherlock Homles: The Setting

Author's note: The importance of the setting in the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Sherlock Holmes’s stories, written by Arthur Conan Doyle, take place in the late nineteenth century, around 1890. Sherlock Holmes (and sometimes Watson) lives in apartment 221B on Baker Street. The city and place may not prove to be as significant, but the time does. The time it takes place is very important because of the lack of technology.

 First off, Sherlock Holmes has to do everything by hand. He has to write things down, and keep his own files on people. Instead of just quickly looking some fact up online, he has to use his books. Also, he can’t look people up; he has to figure things out about them for himself. It’s true that it may not be possible to find everyone, but if someone has a Facebook these days, one would be able too. Sherlock Holmes is not able to rely on the Internet to solve a case.

Another thing comes to my mind after reading A Scandal in Bohemia. Sherlock Holmes finds his own way into Irene Adler’s house to steal a picture she can use for blackmail. With modern technology, a stunt of those sort would prove a little less complicated. But instead, he had to whip up an act to get in, then fake a fire so he could find out where she kept what was most important to her (which was the picture). Surly not using any technology would slow Holmes down.

The amazing part though, is that it doesn’t slow him down. After you consider that, Sherlock Holmes has to be even smarter. It is true, though; that they didn’t know what technology they were missing back then. But still, it would seem even more amazing in the nineteenth century, because no one was ever that smart,and Holmes would seem to be superhuman. In today’s world, someone not as smart as him could possibly pull something similar off, with the help of technology. Without technology, however, it still seems astounding in today's world. Because of the lack of technology, the setting makes a significant impact on the story.

 

The King of Bohemia

Author's Note: Writing response to the short story A Scandal In Bohemia by Arthur Conan Doyle


A Scandal in Bohemia is a short story written by Arthur Conan Doyle. The story is told from the perspective of Sherlock Holmes’s accomplice, Dr Watson. Watson walks past Baker Street where Holmes is residence, and sees him pacing back and forth in front of the window, and knows he is on a case. He goes up, and Sherlock Holmes and Watson talk. Sherlock shows him a mysterious letter saying someone will call at eight o’clock. He does, and eventually he tells them he is the King of Bohemia. The King tells them what he wants done. There is a woman who he once loved but no longer does that has a picture of them. The King is getting married soon, and is afraid the woman will blackmail him in anger. This is the conflict.

So Holmes sets out. He wait by her house until he sees her come out and is about to walk into a carriage. All the men loafing around come to fight to open the door for her to earn a tip. Sherlock Holmes runs in to “protect” her, and pretends to get hurt. They take him in. He pretends he wants air, so someone opens the window, and Watson tosses a smoke bomb in. Everyone thinks it’s a fire, but Holmes explains it’s not real and leaves.

He tells Watson he now knows where the picture is. He says he knows that because since the picture is important to her, a woman will go to the thing most important to her during a fire. He says it’s hidden in the wall But when he goes the next day, everything is gone, and a note is left where the picture is. The letter says she knew Holmes was trying to steal the picture. It also says she is getting married, so she’s no longer is going to blackmail the king. In almost a weird way, this is the resolution.

Sherlock Holmes has the power of intellect. He always is capable of using his mind to figure things out. He can. Sherlock Holmes is a very intelligent man. He is also is really good at deducing things and drawing conclusions, and also very observant. However, he is not emotional at all, and in the book it says he cannot afford to have emotion in his type of business. It is different how Arthur Conan Doyle has separated the two. The story was comedy, and there was a normalcy, conflict, and resolution. I think the return to normalcy was actually at the beginning, because Watson notices he is back to solving cases, just like old times.