Canon Discussion: Black Peter
Sep. 13th, 2015 08:07 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
scfrankles.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
sherlock60This week we’re having a look at The Adventure of Black Peter. I’ve typed up a few thoughts and questions to get the discussion going—please leave your own ideas in the comments!
...I have seldom known him claim any large reward for his inestimable services. You do have to wonder about Holmes’ finances… He manages to buy Watson’s practice, and we know from DYIN that he pays Mrs. Hudson handsomely for 221B. (And he has at least five small refuges in different parts of London...) Could he have a private income? Or is it just that every so often he does get a large payment—and then forgets about money again until his bank balance starts to go down significantly?
...his famous investigation of the sudden death of Cardinal Tosca — an inquiry which was carried out by him at the express desire of His Holiness the Pope… Any thoughts on this case? Incidentally, “His Holiness the Pope” would be the same pope mentioned in chap. 2 of HOUN—Leo XIII, and to quote wikipedia again: He is well known for his intellectualism, the development of social teachings with his famous papal encyclical Rerum novarum and his attempts to define the position of the Catholic Church with regard to modern thinking. I wonder if he and Holmes actually became friends. It might be an interesting relationship to write about.
"If you could have looked into Allardyce's back shop you would have seen a dead pig swung from a hook in the ceiling, and a gentleman in his shirt-sleeves furiously stabbing at it with this weapon.” That must have been an interesting initial conversation with Mr. Allardyce. And does Holmes have to pay for the pig?
I recognised him at once as Stanley Hopkins, a young police inspector for whose future Holmes had high hopes… Why has Holmes decided to take an interest in Hopkins? (Yes, thank you, Mouselet and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thesmallhobbit—you can put your paws/hands down.) Holmes seems entirely unsuited to being a teacher—he likes to keep things to himself.
He could not have been much above twenty years of age. Neligan and Miss Carey are about the same age, and have both been through a great deal because of Peter Carey. I wonder if they might become friends eventually. Poor Miss Carey could certainly do with a friend.
Inspector Stanley Hopkins, 46, Lord Street, Brixton… Little worrying that Watson gives out Hopkins’ home address in his story. We can only hope that he’s moved in the nine years between case and story publication.
“If you want me for the trial, my address and that of Watson will be somewhere in Norway — I'll send particulars later." Why is Holmes going to Norway? The case is solved and Neligan, Sr. never got there anyway. And why was Neligan, Sr. going to Norway in the first place? Was it just to get away from Britain and the risk of arrest? Or was he going there to realise the securities? Why Norway in particular?
I’ll just repeat this bit from the last time I did a BLAC post, as I think the articles are worth having another look at:
This article mentions an interesting idea: Neligan, Sr may not be dead. What if the securities that came into Carey’s possession were not the proceeds of theft, but a bribe from Neligan in exchange for silence? Holmes may be on his way to Norway to track down Neligan and recover the remaining securities. This second article also talks about the Norway situation and refers to a theory that Neligan, Jr and Cairns were working together — it being quite a coincidence they both turned up at the same time. I don’t know — I incline more to coincidence myself.
Next Sunday, 20th September, we’ll be having a look at Charles Augustus Milverton. Hope you can join us then.
...I have seldom known him claim any large reward for his inestimable services. You do have to wonder about Holmes’ finances… He manages to buy Watson’s practice, and we know from DYIN that he pays Mrs. Hudson handsomely for 221B. (And he has at least five small refuges in different parts of London...) Could he have a private income? Or is it just that every so often he does get a large payment—and then forgets about money again until his bank balance starts to go down significantly?
...his famous investigation of the sudden death of Cardinal Tosca — an inquiry which was carried out by him at the express desire of His Holiness the Pope… Any thoughts on this case? Incidentally, “His Holiness the Pope” would be the same pope mentioned in chap. 2 of HOUN—Leo XIII, and to quote wikipedia again: He is well known for his intellectualism, the development of social teachings with his famous papal encyclical Rerum novarum and his attempts to define the position of the Catholic Church with regard to modern thinking. I wonder if he and Holmes actually became friends. It might be an interesting relationship to write about.
"If you could have looked into Allardyce's back shop you would have seen a dead pig swung from a hook in the ceiling, and a gentleman in his shirt-sleeves furiously stabbing at it with this weapon.” That must have been an interesting initial conversation with Mr. Allardyce. And does Holmes have to pay for the pig?
I recognised him at once as Stanley Hopkins, a young police inspector for whose future Holmes had high hopes… Why has Holmes decided to take an interest in Hopkins? (Yes, thank you, Mouselet and
thesmallhobbit—you can put your paws/hands down.) Holmes seems entirely unsuited to being a teacher—he likes to keep things to himself.He could not have been much above twenty years of age. Neligan and Miss Carey are about the same age, and have both been through a great deal because of Peter Carey. I wonder if they might become friends eventually. Poor Miss Carey could certainly do with a friend.
Inspector Stanley Hopkins, 46, Lord Street, Brixton… Little worrying that Watson gives out Hopkins’ home address in his story. We can only hope that he’s moved in the nine years between case and story publication.
“If you want me for the trial, my address and that of Watson will be somewhere in Norway — I'll send particulars later." Why is Holmes going to Norway? The case is solved and Neligan, Sr. never got there anyway. And why was Neligan, Sr. going to Norway in the first place? Was it just to get away from Britain and the risk of arrest? Or was he going there to realise the securities? Why Norway in particular?
I’ll just repeat this bit from the last time I did a BLAC post, as I think the articles are worth having another look at:
This article mentions an interesting idea: Neligan, Sr may not be dead. What if the securities that came into Carey’s possession were not the proceeds of theft, but a bribe from Neligan in exchange for silence? Holmes may be on his way to Norway to track down Neligan and recover the remaining securities. This second article also talks about the Norway situation and refers to a theory that Neligan, Jr and Cairns were working together — it being quite a coincidence they both turned up at the same time. I don’t know — I incline more to coincidence myself.
Next Sunday, 20th September, we’ll be having a look at Charles Augustus Milverton. Hope you can join us then.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2015-09-13 09:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-13 09:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-13 09:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-13 09:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-13 10:56 am (UTC)Living flesh is a bit more yielding than dead...I presume...
no subject
Date: 2015-09-13 11:31 am (UTC)I must admit I don't know enough about this subject but I would assume after the carcasses have passed through the rigor mortis stage the flesh would be as yielding as living flesh.
(To refer to a possibly upsetting subject: aren't human cadavers sometimes used for testing crash situations? I assume the bodies must damage in a similar way to living bodies.)
no subject
Date: 2015-09-13 12:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-13 02:00 pm (UTC)googled living flesh
Just a normal Sunday afternoon then :D
no subject
Date: 2015-09-13 02:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-13 05:50 pm (UTC)A non-helpful sidebar. In the discussion about the Lion's Mane,
Mouselet probably already knows, Hopkins is quite overboard in his Royalist sympathies. Getting regularly drunk is not Puritan. She might like to discuss the Civil War with him, or at least warn hinm I'll be reading Macauley at him at the first opportunity.
no subject
Date: 2015-09-13 09:11 pm (UTC)Just having a quick look, I found this article (http://www.historyofwomen.org/wifebeating.html) about wife beating in the 1800s. The first sentence is: During the 1800s wife beating was extremely common and only caused outrage if it was exceptionally brutal or endangered life. So, to a certain extent it was socially accepted. And the article also makes the point women would be financially dependent on their abusers - if a husband went to prison, the family would be destitute.
"Puritan" - it is an odd description of Carey, isn't it? Though I think Hopkins is saying this only described him when he wasn't drunk. But I'm sure Mouselet would jump at the chance to discuss this with her darling inspector ^^