Valley of Fear Chapters 1-4
I have always been a fan of the mystery genre, having read a few famed Agatha Christie novels and other works by various authors. However, The Valley of Fear introduced me to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's work and the written world of Sherlock Holmes.
Doyle's The Valley of Fear resembles the typical mystery novel with a clever detective, his partner, and other curious minds trying to solve a murder case. As I began reading the novel, I was struck by Doyle's use of characterization. Throughout the four chapters, he builds upon the characters' personalities, creating a consistent image for each of them from which the characters never stray.
Watson, as the narrator, reveals the events in the story from a biased point of view. He clearly believes that Holmes is an extraordinarily gifted detective and admires him despite his condescending remarks. His reverence for Holmes and indifference towards other characters adds another layer to the novel that would not be there if the story was written from an objective point of view. Watson constantly describes the difficulty of the case while mentioning Holmes' capability, causing the reader to value the complexity of the case and long to see the famous detective solve it.
Holmes lives up to his reputation of being a man of great intellect as he pulls knowledge from past experiences and seemingly disconnected events and draws a pattern between them and the current situation. His gift of deduction does not entirely encompass his character, however, as his constant internal speculation and obsession with mysteries do. For example, Doyle characterizes Holmes in this way when he mentions three times that Holmes had not touched his breakfast since he busied himself with the case. Holmes' addiction to solving mysteries causes the reader to pull upon his or her own fascination with this case.
Doyle explains the mystery by utilizing the characters' various personalities and viewpoints to present a new thought, theory, or fact. In accordance with his character, Holmes reveals pieces of evidence and ideas that no other character would be able to provide, but his character is also the one to divulge information that the reader would not be able to obtain. For example, he mentions the Greuze painting and the Pennsylvania Small Arms Company. Watson's logic and reason parallels the reader's in his or her ability to think of simple ideas that could be linked to a piece of evidence. I found myself pondering what type of book was linked to the cipher message, and I assumed it would be the Bible or a dictionary like Watson believed. The remaining characters contribute theories about the mystery, providing the reader with a few ideas while giving the reader freedom to develop his or her own hypothesis.
Within the first few pages of the story, I already developed a desire to read the rest of the novel and discover what dark secrets lie behind this confusing murder. Doyle engages his audience in the way in which he presents his mystery. He shares bits of evidence and possible solutions and allows the reader to use his or her own mind to try to solve the case. I thoroughly enjoyed reading and theorizing along with the characters in the first chapters and look forward to doing the same as I continue to read the novel.
Doyle's The Valley of Fear resembles the typical mystery novel with a clever detective, his partner, and other curious minds trying to solve a murder case. As I began reading the novel, I was struck by Doyle's use of characterization. Throughout the four chapters, he builds upon the characters' personalities, creating a consistent image for each of them from which the characters never stray.
Watson, as the narrator, reveals the events in the story from a biased point of view. He clearly believes that Holmes is an extraordinarily gifted detective and admires him despite his condescending remarks. His reverence for Holmes and indifference towards other characters adds another layer to the novel that would not be there if the story was written from an objective point of view. Watson constantly describes the difficulty of the case while mentioning Holmes' capability, causing the reader to value the complexity of the case and long to see the famous detective solve it.
Holmes lives up to his reputation of being a man of great intellect as he pulls knowledge from past experiences and seemingly disconnected events and draws a pattern between them and the current situation. His gift of deduction does not entirely encompass his character, however, as his constant internal speculation and obsession with mysteries do. For example, Doyle characterizes Holmes in this way when he mentions three times that Holmes had not touched his breakfast since he busied himself with the case. Holmes' addiction to solving mysteries causes the reader to pull upon his or her own fascination with this case.
Doyle explains the mystery by utilizing the characters' various personalities and viewpoints to present a new thought, theory, or fact. In accordance with his character, Holmes reveals pieces of evidence and ideas that no other character would be able to provide, but his character is also the one to divulge information that the reader would not be able to obtain. For example, he mentions the Greuze painting and the Pennsylvania Small Arms Company. Watson's logic and reason parallels the reader's in his or her ability to think of simple ideas that could be linked to a piece of evidence. I found myself pondering what type of book was linked to the cipher message, and I assumed it would be the Bible or a dictionary like Watson believed. The remaining characters contribute theories about the mystery, providing the reader with a few ideas while giving the reader freedom to develop his or her own hypothesis.
Within the first few pages of the story, I already developed a desire to read the rest of the novel and discover what dark secrets lie behind this confusing murder. Doyle engages his audience in the way in which he presents his mystery. He shares bits of evidence and possible solutions and allows the reader to use his or her own mind to try to solve the case. I thoroughly enjoyed reading and theorizing along with the characters in the first chapters and look forward to doing the same as I continue to read the novel.
I liked how you compared the logic and thought processes of Watson and Holmes to those of the reader. Watson does seem to speak and think in a way that is more relatable to the thoughts that the reader may have. I don't know if I would think of the answers that Watson comes up with if I were in his shoes, however, his responses certainly seem closer to what the reader might be thinking when compared to Holmes' responses. Whenever Holmes makes a connection it seems like he pulls it out of thin air, and it doesn't seem to be on the same line of thinking as the reader.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your final paragraph's ideas that the beginning of the story immediately makes the reader curious as to what lies ahead, and especially that Doyle's writing style allows the reader to actually feel involved in the case. I discussed something similar in my blog post because I also really enjoyed how Doyle writes from Watson's perspective in order to give the reader the opportunity to basically work alongside Holmes. Personally, although they were definitely condescending at times, Holmes' guiding questions to Watson made me feel directly involved as I struggled alongside Watson to figure out what was going on inside of Holmes' mind and figure out the book.
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