Parent-child reading | Children's Literature The Complete Detective Sherlock Holmes (Part 2)

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Yesterday we analyzed the "Study of Blood Words" of "Sherlock Holmes's Four Strange Cases".

Looking at the author Conan Doyle's medical practice, it is easy to make such a conjecture. Conan Doyle is portrayed much like Dr. Watson, Holmes's detective assistant. The entire "Sherlock Holmes series" was recorded in the form of Watson's diary. The author's "I" and Watson naturally have a lot of overlap.

In addition, both of them opened a clinic and how to make money. And Conan Doyle also claims that The prototype of Holmes is his medical school teacher Bell, who has the same astonishing insight as Holmes. As a doctor, Bell often takes a look and can accurately guess the patient's identity. Many years later, however, Bell wrote to Conan Doyle that you yourself were Sherlock Holmes, and you knew him all too well.

This conclusion is indeed very interesting, because Conan Doyle also made a real Sherlock Holmes. In 1903, a vicious incident occurred in the north of Birmingham, England, and a large number of cattle, sheep and horses died mysteriously overnight, the cause of death was stabbed in the stomach with a knife. Soon the police received an anonymous letter mocking the police's ability to do things.

Some people claim that a lawyer named George Idalgi was very suspicious, so George Hidalgi was arrested by the police, but the important basis for judging Hidalgi's guilt was that his father was an Indian immigrant, which was discriminated against in British society at that time.

Conan Doyle learned of this and immediately began to gather evidence. He found the knife in Hidalgi's house, which was identified as a murder weapon. How could this knife, which was so rusty that it could not even cut a single radish, kill so many large livestock overnight, and that the appraiser who identified the handwriting of anonymous letters had misidentified in the previous case, resulting in innocent people being imprisoned, and how could his identification be used as evidence?

There is also the soil on Idarji's boots before the crime, which is completely different from the soil at the scene of the crime. Based on the above evidence, Conan Doyle preliminarily acquitted Hidalgi, so he decided to meet Idargi in person. At the first meeting, Conan Doyle completely ruled out Hidalgi's criminal suspicions.

Because Conan Doyle was an ophthalmologist, he immediately noticed that Idarji suffered from very severe myopia plus strabismus, and that it was impossible for a person with myopia and strabismus to slaughter such a huge number of cattle and sheep in the middle of the night. In summary, Conan Doyle wrote to the British police, revealing the evidence in his possession, and he had a great influence. Idargi was eventually acquitted.

Sharing the author's detective experience, back to the work, the "Sherlock Holmes series" actually has a very classic routine that has been used many times. Holmes always liked to sit quietly in his room on Shell Street, waiting for the arrival of the counselor. Although he had the gentlemanly demeanor characteristic of the English, he looked forward with a smile to one magical case after another, and the more complex and difficult the case, the more Sherlock Holmes rejoiced.

Unlike detective novels that focus on the logic of the case, the spiritual world of the Sherlock Holmes case is also unusually full. Taking the famous four novellas as an example, the first "Study of Blood Words" writes the sadness of the fusion of love and revenge, so that the simple revenge case and the microcosm of the American Mormonism and the special historical period are combined to enhance the historical thickness of the whole book.

The second case, The Four Signatures, satirizes the colonial system that the British least want to mention, depicting the loss and collapse of conscience through people's coveting of wealth, and the later Hound of the Baskervilles combines mythology and classical legend. Holmes completely stayed out of the matter, but secretly manipulated the direction of the event, so that the series of works directly sealed the gods.

The last "Uncanny Valley" is the most literary "case within a case". The superficial murder was entirely in Sherlock Holmes's plan, and after solving the case, a new, more legendary case was naturally set up. The case begins with a gangster who has just joined a gangster group, incorporating elements of gangsterism, crime, love and vendetta. When all readers already suspect that the protagonist has fallen, Conan Doyle takes the entire story in a 180-degree reversal with just a few words. The personality charm of Edward, the protagonist of "case within a case", even directly approached Holmes.

Such an analogy can be made. These four novellas are the red flowers in "The Complete Detective Sherlock Holmes", and the remaining fifty-six short stories are the green leaves that set off the red flowers, but the green leaves are not a mediocre foil, but they hit the reader's heart from different sides.

The Bohemian Scandal brought Sherlock Holmes a world-changing setback. Holmes has always despised women, he is not close to women, he has no confidant, because he believes that women will only carry some little women's grievances and love, which will interfere with his correct thinking about the case. However, the eternal "white moonlight" in Holmes's heart appeared in this case.

Irene Adler, soprano singer at the Royal Opera House, an independent woman who combines beauty and talent, and because of the perfect lover deeply resented by the bohemian king, Irene completely defeated Holmes. She acted decisively, and the strength of the Bohemian royal family could not get a picture of her hiding. She recognized Holmes's intentions in advance and successfully took out Holmes, who was disguised as a coachman, but was actually spying on. Even if she fell into Holmes's elaborate trap again, Irene made the right judgment at the first time, took the photo and her husband and flew away, so that Holmes's entire plan was completely frustrated.

At the end of the story, everyone is impressed by Irene's intelligence, and even the bohemian king laments that if Irene had a noble status, he would definitely marry her. But the king's words aroused great disgust and contempt for Holmes. In his eyes, Irene, who was so intelligent and wise, was far superior to those straw bale royals who respected the hierarchy and had no real talent. At the end of the story, Holmes gave up the huge reward he was entitled to and demanded a photograph of Irene herself from the king of Bohemia as a permanent memorial. Since then, Holmes has never mocked any women. He has always called Erin "Lady Junjie".

The exquisite design of "Bohemian Scandal", although it broke the myth of Sherlock Holmes's invincibility, it also made the arrogant and cold Holmes plated with a wave of human warmth and truth, making his personality more conspicuous. Of course, the coolest point of detective fiction is the case, logical reasoning. "The Redhead", "Silver Horse", and "Spotted Ribbon" are all classic short stories with the most intense plot conflicts.

Older friends can take the little ones to play some detective games. This can not only exercise the child's logical reasoning ability, but also ignite the child's curiosity to observe things and explore the truth of things. In the process, the children will constantly think, the interconnection between the events, and the children who find out the truth will also have a special sense of accomplishment.

When playing parent-child detective games, big friends should encourage children to pursue the truth psychologically bravely and enjoy the joy of discovering the truth. In terms of action, we must be particularly careful and patient, pay attention to some subtle clues, and make reasonable logical reasoning. Share some detective game methods with you.

The eldest friend should help the child sort out the clues. Mark the serial number and tell the children the content of these clues, whether they are true or false. Generally speaking, factual descriptions are true, while subjective evaluations are doubtful. When reasoning about a case, it is audacious to assume that all the "uncertain clues" do not hold, and new logic will emerge. It is also possible to use the backward method, using existing clues to reverse thinking, which is what Holmes usually used.

Conan Doyle's detective story is not only attractive with a bizarre and wonderful storyline, he also reveals the real problems of the society at that time through his own detective novels, he highly combines social crime with historical background, political system, ideology and moral concepts, and reflects the British society at that time from multiple angles.

In "The Study of Blood Words", love and religion, colonization and plunder in "Four Signatures", the inheritance dispute in "Spotted Tape" and "Baskerville's Hound", the perfidy in "Silver Horse" and "Crooked Lip Man", the deceit in "The Redhead", the despicable shallowness in "Bohemian Scandal", in these suspenseful, logically rigorous, twists and turns, Conan Doyle shows the loopholes and irrationalities of the judicial process. And the birth of Sherlock Holmes made up for the justice that people longed for but lacked.

Because of the desire for justice, the thirst for hope, the "Sherlock Holmes Series of Stories" can be called great classics in any era. It was not until the death of Conan Doyle in 1930 that he left this sentence on his epitaph. "True as rigidity, straight as a sword". Conan Doyle's persistence created an immortal image of a detective in the history of literature, and also turned literature into a sword of justice that swept away the darkness and called for light.

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Zhao Zijun, an article a day, recording work life, reading and learning. Be a seed that spreads love.

Public number: Zhao Jun. Writing is not just about recording, it is evoking some beautiful hearts that are sleeping.