Discussion Post: The Yellow Face

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

Welcome back, everyone! Let's talk about our 60th story: The Yellow Face, shall we? As always, I've written up a few random thoughts and questions of my own. Please add your own!

-- I know Effie says Lucy is left in America for her health, but if that was the case, how is it that she's able to bring her over the instant she finally decides to do that? Could she have brought her earlier? Effie leaves her daughter in another country for three years while she enjoys new love, and then when she does bring her, she forces the girl to stay inside every day and cover her face and hands when she does dare to look at the outside world through the window of her room. At least Lucy's new father is a good, kind man. They both deserve much better than what they get from Effie.

-- The American editions of this story have a few differences from the original. Several times, Lucy's mask face is described as white rather than yellow, despite the title. The worst change lengthens the time it takes Grant Munro to decide to accept Lucy from two minutes to ten, presumably because interracial marriage was depressingly even more controversial in the US than it was in England.

-- I love Watson, who loves children and finds Lucy's laughter infectious when she is unmasked. Adorable.

-- Holmes says, "Any truth is better than infinite doubt." Really? Any truth? I am not sure that's the case. I'd love to see what truth would break that rule to Sherlock Holmes.

Comments

[hisietari.livejournal.com]

That is precisely what I love Watson for. He loves so openly and unconditionally. His "across three continents" might sound boasting macho, but considering the times he lived in, that means he saw those women he met across the world as what they were - women. That's more than a lot of dudes (of all genders) can pull off today.

Actually that's what I love Holmes for, too. It's an unpopular opinion, but he stands up for it.

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

He loves so openly and unconditionally.

That is gorgeous and exactly right. That is why we all love Watson, and what makes him the man he is. Beautiful.

As for Holmes, his dedication to the policy of truth is admirable, certainly. You think it's absolute, though? That's really the question to me. I think he wants it to be, but whether it is or not is another question.

[hisietari.livejournal.com]

It's not absolute, but that is probably something that cannot be reached by a human being on the premise of our physicality. There's only so much the human brain - even a highly functional one - can cope with. Holmes is, however, on a hot trace there.
Psychologically he's right with that statement though. Knowing a cruel truth is bitter, but the brain's coping mechanisms will be set to work on it almost immediately. No matter how long it takes, the healing process can start. Doubt, however, doesn't allow that, because there is no basis for the coping to start on. The individual's soul simply doesn't stop brooding on the topic, and that's quite unhealthy.
But of course there are always exceptions to the rule.

[tweedisgood.livejournal.com]

Yes, Effie doesn't come off well in this, although her actions are shaped (misshaped) by an entirely reasonable terror that she and her child will be outcasts. But then, she has independent means (oddly specific here, ACD's own little preoccupations with having enough money showing perhaps?)- her income from her late husband would be equivalent in spending power to about £22,000 0r $34,000 per annum which would enable her to live modestly but adequately - taxation was much lower then.
I wonder how much Lucy will remember of all this, and how it will affect her future life? What will her future look like? Hmm, I feel a fic coming on, although I am aware than in even thinking about trying this, I'm stepping into very deep and troubled fandom waters.

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

I wondered about Lucy's future too. I have my fingers crossed that this story bug burrows deep into your brain, because I want you to tell me what the answer is, even if (or especially if) it's a bit... controversial. In your hands, that would be incredible.

[debriswoman]

An interesting tale, with no real villain, although I agree that Effie's behaviour is at best misguided, at worst, self serving. The issue of why she felt compelled to hide Lucy opens up a whole world of Victorian prejudice and narrowmindedness, with ACD in a more sympathetic position than in Wisteria Lodge. And there are some nice moments with Holmes and Watson:-)

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I suppose the best that could be said for Effie was that she unwittingly found herself in a position from which there was no easy way out. She had left the child in the care of a good nurse, which might well have been the best solution initially. Then she fell for Munro and indecision meant that she didn't act before the wedding, at which point she had condemned herself to living a lie. After that, having handed all her money to her husband, if he cast her out she would have no way to support the child. My drabble deals with how I saw the final outcome.