Canon Discussion Post: The Sign of the Four, Chapters 1-6

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

It's canon discussion time, everybody! What did you think about The Sign of the Four, Chapters 1-6? As always, I've written up a few of my own random thoughts and questions, which are behind the jump. Add your own in the comments!

The Granada TV adaptation we'll be talking about next week when we finish up with SIGN.


- The beginning of this novel is rather disturbing in its way, as we and Watson watch Holmes as his thrice daily ritual of shooting himself up with cocaine. His arms are scarred from the repeated injections, and the doctor is rightfully worried that he's risking his life and his genius for fleeting moments of chemical bliss. Poor Watson watches this repetitious self-annihilation with anger and guilt. It's not much of a surprise when he gravitates toward Mary when she arrives, given the home life with a dedicated addict he has with Holmes, who acknowledges the danger, but enjoys the high far too much to give it up. "Would you care to try it?" Holmes asks his companion. Every time I read that line, a dark part of me wishes Watson would say yes. "Yes, you selfish jerk. Yes. Shoot me up like you do yourself. Kill me like you kill yourself. Show me exactly what it is that you love more than your own life."

- "But the romance was there," I remonstrated. "I could not tamper with the facts."

"Some facts should be suppressed, or, at least, a just sense of proportion should be observed in treating them."

This statement is miles away from Holmes' previous determination in The Greek Interpreter: "To the logician all things should be seen exactly as they are." The difference lies in the subject, of course. Holmes is happy to deal with all the facts -- when they're just raw data. But the romance, the emotion, is always there, making things difficult, ugly, and complicated. Holmes just wishes it wasn't and tries instead to deny it, even breaking his own rules of assessment to do so. Life, no matter how much he wants it to be, is not an exact science, able to be treated coldly and unemotionally. No matter how much he drowns his notice of it in logic or in morphine and cocaine, the romance is always there, particularly in this case when Mary Morstan walks through their door and the doctor's heart follows after her, instantly and irrevocably taken by her beauty and charm. Regardless of how much Holmes may wish it were not true, as Watson says, he cannot tamper with the facts.

- The spontaneous courtship of Mary and Watson is adorable. They are cute together and well-matched. She's got fire and cleverness, exactly what he looks for in a companion. Even Holmes is impressed by her intuition, one of the three traits he values in a good detective. And Mary couldn't hope for anyone more loyal, trusting, and trustworthy than Watson. His excitement around her is evident to everyone, as he stammers and mangles his words multiple times in her presence. These two good people deserve happiness, and it makes me happy to watch them find it together.

- "You have done well, sir, from first to last." Speaking of good people, Thaddeus Sholto deserves some credit. Although he seems to be a complete weirdo, eccentric in every way and a hypochondriac to boot, he is also very honest, decent, and fair. He really goes out of his way, risking a lot to help Mary when his father reveals the situation with her. He faces his brother's wrath for his belief that they were her trustees, and even moved out away from him because of it. He's an odd duck, Thad, but he's definitely a good guy, and we (and Holmes) appreciate him for that.

- On the other hand, of course, Major John Sholto is a greedy fool to the end, almost ridiculously so. His statement about Mary is so stupid it made me laugh. Paraphrased: "I've been terrible! I'm so greedy, I never gave her what she was due. I even got this headdress out to give to her, but I just couldn't because I'm just so greedy. So when I'm dead, give her what she's due. But don't do it until I'm really dead, though! Because people sometimes live from this, you know, and I'm still the same greedy bastard, after all."

- One last point. So last week during the case of the Greek Interpreter (literally last week, as GREE is set Sept. 12 and SIGN Sept. 18, 1888, according to Baring-Gould), Watson finds out Holmes has a brother for the first time after years of friendship, and now Holmes finds out Watson has (or had) a brother too. Neither had any idea until just this moment. Very odd.

Comments

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Regarding brothers: what's particularly odd is that Watson's brother must have died fairly recently (allowing for the watch to have come to him through the brother's will). Watson would presumably have gone to the funeral - would he have said nothing to Holmes?

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

Hm. Good point.

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's a disturbing but quite true point. That is backstory begging to be uncovered.