Reading Report on Sherlock Hol
Interested in detective novels, I chose Sherlock Holmes as my English reading materials on the Iyangcong Reading platform. In comparison with those books filled with cliche and monotonous doctrinairism, Sherlock Holmes, just like a stream of fresh air, gives me unprecedented mental excitement as well as astonishment. As a result, I decide to write a book report on this marvelous detective novels not only to express my supreme respect to this role but also to trigger your interests on it so that you can also enjoy this special happiness.
To achieve this goal, I mainly divide my paper into four parts. In the first part, I introduce the most distinctive writing techniques in Sherlock Holmes. Secondly, I choose some typical Holmes-style plots to analyze this novel. Thirdly, I intensively introduce the characters of Holmes, which make him so charming and famous around the world. Finally, I give my personal reflection on Sherlock Holmes.
Part One
To some extent, detective novels is kind of similar to horror movie. One resemblance is that both aim at creating an suspenseful atmosphere to trigger a sense of immersion of readers so that the they may unconsciously regard themselves as a certain role of the story. And Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the writer of Sherlock Holmes, really did a good job. Here I list the most distinctive factor to make him outstanding in this aspect-appropriate depiction on environment.
When we want to describe something, we usually use some words to express our emotions directly such as happy or sad. However, in detective novel, certain words are not powerful enough to generate the ambience that the author wants. Aimed to avoid this disadvantage, Sir Conan Doyle chose a totally different way, that is, using environmental depiction to imply people’s emotion. For example, in the beginning of His Last Bow, he wrote down these sentences: One might have thought already that God’s curse hung heavy over a degenerate world, for there was an awesome hush and a feeling of vague expectation in the sultry and stagnant air. The sun had long set, but one bloodred gash like an open wound lay low in the distant west. Above, the stars were shining brightly, and below, the lights of the shipping glimmered in the bay. As what can ben seen, this is a silent scene where the sun have long set but the sunset glow is still left in the distant west sky and there was bright light given out by the stars and passing ships. It’s quite such a common scene that people who live in the coastal city (including Zhuhai) can almost see it every day. Suppose that the author depicted them as what I do above, I think nobody can be motivated to continue the reading process anymore. Fortunately, it didn’t happen. Sir Doyle finished it in a brilliant way. First, he use God’s curse and degenerate world to imply that background, which is the World War Ⅱ and the stifling atmosphere. What’s more, the stagnant air and the bloodred gash in a shape of wound in the sky further strengthen this feeling. And the bright light of the star was used as foil to the atmosphere. Combined with the later story that the confidential document is going to be delivered by the German spy lurking in the British government, this environmental depiction really foreshadow what is going to happen. So, we can conclude that the writing style of depicting environment does exist in the novel
Part two
In the first part, we mainly discuss the writing style and how it works to make the novel better. But no matter how good or complicated the writing styles are, they are radically the branches of a tree. It’s only the plots that can be regarded as the key factor to judge how amazing a detective novel is. So the quality of the plots are immediately related to the quality of a novel. How about Sherlock Holmes? I am going to analyze it by extracting some parts from the novel.
First of all, let’s see the plots from A Study In Scarlet. To put it simply, the story narrates a journey of revenge conducted by Jefferson Hope. After the kidnapping and death of his fiancée Lucy Ferrier and the murder of her father John by the Avenging Angels he later traveled to London where he killed Enoch Drebber and Joseph Stangerson in revenge for their roles in the deaths. Due to the long duration from Lucy’s death to Hope’s death for aortic aneurism and the complex interpersonal relationships, it’s quite difficult for the author to tell the whole story logically. If the author generalized it, many important parts would be thrown away, thus making the story dull. On that contrary, if the author wrote the story chronologically, the plot would be so lengthy that readers might not have the patience to absorb them all. It seems impossible to to tell the whole story from the beginning where Hope met Lucy to the ending where Hope was dead for aortic aneurism. And it’s also impossible to arrange the plot reasonably so that the novel’s plot can irritate readers. However, Sir Conan Doyle succeeded in turning the trouble into one of the most fascinating story of Holmes. And the plot inside was universally considered as the most splendid plot in many appraisals. So what exactly is the plot in the novel?
There, Sir Doyle ingeniously adopted flashbacks so that he perfectly illustrated this story. The story began with the discovery of the body of Drebber. And then, it was a description of how Holmes detect the homicide case. But the process was not as smooth as Holmes expected. Because under the investigation, the second decedent Stangerson appeared. Both of them were killed in a demon-like way. So far, the readers have been absolutely hooked up by the author. As they are urgent to see more exciting events to happen, everything comes back to tranquility. The murderer, just like a ghost, hovered over Holmes. However, at this time, Holmes started to pack up his luggage and seemed to take a journey. For this, he hired a groom. When readers feel confused, Holmes suddenly claimed that the groom was Hope, the murderer. This ups and downs in the plot is a boom, exploding so suddenly that readers strong need for irritation is greatly satisfied. As a result, this plot arrangement has been a huge success in the the history of detective novel. And then, the author adopted flashback to illustrate this story. This flashback comes from the reminiscence of Hope. Through his memory, reader know the whole context of the revenge. That’s how Sir Conan Doyle develop the plot.
The second example is in the The Five Orange Pips. John Openshaw came to Holmes for help. His uncle is mad and then dies in a bizarre way after receiving a letter with five orange pips inside. And now, he receives the same letter. So terrified is he that he asked Holmes to find out the murderer. In our stereotype, contacting Holmes is equal to safety. However, the next day, he is murdered though it seems like an accident. This plot is absolutely an ups and downs because it turns over people’s stereotype. What’s more, when it comes to arresting the criminals from “KKK”, the plot breaks the stereotype again because author doesn't describe the scene where criminals were caught. Instead of catching the criminals by his own, Holmes sends five orange pips to the captain of their ship called The Lone Star, the conventional dead ultimatum of “KKK”the conventional dead ultimatum of “KKK”, and then sends a telegram to the Savannah police claiming that the captain and two mates are wanted for murder. Nevertheless, The Lone Star never arrives in Savannah, due to a severe gale. The only trace of the boat is a ship's sternpost marked "LS" sighted in the North Atlantic. By using this plot, Sir Conan Doyle created a suspenseful ambience and leave a lot of room for our imagination.
In conclusion, the brilliant design of the plot enormously improves the story and also grasps readers’ attention successfully. Probably that’s the reason which makes Sherlock Holmes so fabulous.
Part Three
Regardless of the writing styles and plots, even if they are really designed well, the core of a detective novel is the protagonist, that is to say Sherlock Holmes is the decisive key to huge success. So, I’ll introduce the mesmerizing charactertics of Sherlock Holmes.
First, the obviously different images. Imagine a man who occasionally uses addictive drugs, especially in the absence of stimulating cases and uses cocaine, which he injects in a seven-percent solution with a syringe kept in a Morocco leather case, it’s a safe bet that you will disdain even detest him. But this is Holmes. Imagine a man who fervently repeats a chemical examination in order to find a reagent that can detect the blood even though his fingers are dyed with colors because of longtime direct contact to chemicals. This is Holmes, too. Sometimes, you might be disappointed and worried because taking drugs and being injected are destroy this genius. Whereas next minute you might be surprised at his wonderful performance on solving a case. Consequently, readers are lured by Holmes, thus unconsciously loving him.
Second, the fierce sense of justice. In my opinion, there is no language at all that can be used to describe how sublime Holmes is. Here is a quote from The Final Problem：‘ You have paid me several compliments, Mr. Moriarty. Let me pay you one in return when I say that if I were assured of the former eventuality I would, in the interests of the public, cheerfully accept the latter.’ This conversation comes from the negotiation in the study of Holmes. After Holmes reduces his inducements. Professor Moriarty starts to threaten him by offering him two choices, whose results are all death. However, as we can see above, Holmes doesn’t fear. He bravely claim that he will free this society from Moriarty’s shadow even at the expense of his life. What’s more, it’s an utmost honor to devote himself to the righteousness. Eventually, He fulfills his promise. He, along with Moriarty, dies in the Reichenbach Falls. His secret documents left in his house help the police to devastate the most evil gangsters in London. Compared to those boasting justice every day, Holmes is undoubtedly the legal bodyguard of the Europe in that period. He deserves all of the fame and gratitude because he is the incarnation of justice!
Part Four
Before I started writing this book report, I originally planned to merely write about His Last Bow. However, after I finished the first paragraph, I deleted them all because I found that my loving Holmes couldn’t be one hundred percents presented by only one story. If I had done this, I would have failed to show the real magic of Sherlock Holmes. That’s the reason why I cite some classical stories like A Study In Scarlet and The Five Orange Pips.
In those parts above, I analyze Sherlock Holme in a relatively objective way. Now, in this discussion part, I will tell my own feelings to this great novel.
The first time I contacted Sherlock Holmes is 5 years old. I found him in a children book with insets. Though I didn’t make sense of the logic, it seemed that it could generate a special magnetic field so that I was thoroughly mesmerized. As I grew older, I became more mature, which resulted in a deep thinking into this novel as well as characteristics. At this time, I firmed my favor on him not for curiosity but my sovereign respect to him. His sagacity, casualness, strong will, erudition and valor deeply attracted a young man who desired to become a real man someday. Thus, he became my first mental idol.
Having read Sherlock Holmes for many times, I never get tired of it. Every time I read it, it makes me think about the familiar emotion before and I am undoubtedly touched by his god-like wisdom. It’s like a spring of power that never drains. As I am exhausted, I will come there for some water and also take a rest. In other word, the meaning of Holmes has been far beyond a character for me.
Forgive my poor English and I am sorry that I can not express all my feelings. The only thing I can do is to recommend you to enter this magical world. I am sure that you will have the same opinion as I have - Sherlock Holmes never fades away.
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