The Reigate Squires: Recognition, G

[tweedisgood.livejournal.com]

The Reigate Squires

Author: tweedisgood

Title: Recognition

Rating: G


Colonel Hayter has a gun dog, black as night. It leaps upon pheasants he has brought down, pinning them by one fluttering, once-soaring wing, bringing them limp and lifeless to its master.

In the beast's eyes I see infinite patience and deadly watchfulness: the mirror image of another black dog that follows after my successes until they, too, lie lifeless.

Comments

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Ooh yes, and the greater the success the deeper the blackness.

[tweedisgood.livejournal.com]

*Nods*. Thanks.

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

Ahh, this one has weight. I love the description of his depression this way, dragging his successes by the neck until they are dead. It is so perfectly apt and so perfectly painful. You pack a lot of punch into 60 words.

[tweedisgood.livejournal.com]

Thank you! The idea of depression as "the black dog" combined with that scene of Holmes lying on the sofa in the gun-room was well-nigh irresistible.

[hisietari.livejournal.com]

This is very, very down to the point.

[tweedisgood.livejournal.com]

Yes. No matter how much of a dick Holmes is at times, he has some pretty scary times himself...

[hisietari.livejournal.com]

To be honest, now that I'm finally reading all the books and stories in order of their publishing again, I think of Holmes as quite polite a fellow. After all, he notices when he upsets people. Sometimes he even anticipates it and apologises later for having had to take their distress into account. And he's completely honest about it all. That's way more than most people do.

[tweedisgood.livejournal.com]

Oh, he's certainly a contrast with the BBC version, whom I have to say I really don't like. But he can still be a little thoughtless, although, as you say, he doesn't see this as a good thing.

[hisietari.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that I actually like the BBC character. I've been thinking a good deal about this emotion, and why he is the way he is compared to the old Holmes. First of all, I think he is a bit younger (or at least mentally younger, as people in modern days simply don't mature as quickly as they did in former times), and second, he's a good reflection of the world we live in. Victorian times appear to me a good deal more polite, and empathetic.

It's been agreed quite a lot that Holmes is pretty much a textbook example of autism, the high level functionality type. However, I think that the BBC's version is more realistic in that aspect. First of all, for some of us it is incredibly hard to read other people's emotions. In those movies, this is impressively well done, at least from my point of view. That Holmes can understand human emotions as long as they are related to his cases, but whenever something becomes personal, he has not the slightest clue. What is particularly interesting though is how Holmes learns nonetheless. We see how he cares about people, whether he likes it or not, and he actually starts learning (well, sometimes with Watson shouting at him, but maybe that imprints the lesson a little deeper =P). I don't want to post any spoilers, but I think especially series 2 shows a lot of that learning process. There are moments when Holmes asks that incredible "No good?" when Watson has just told him off again. He has to learn these things like a child, and to be honest, I can relate a lot to those scenes. We even see him apologise once, in a very honest way.

I think that in contrast to the books' Holmes, who grew up in a society where manners were everything, and probably in an at least decent home, the modern version had a hell of a childhood. Most likely misunderstood, cast out, and never recognised as a very sensitive character (or most likely told that it's a "weakness"), I suspect that his downright hostile behaviour in some cases is nothing but a protective shell. In others, when he rants at people for not being able to follow his thoughts, he shows another typical sign of the autism spectrum. Within the fracture of a second, the individual realises that it has no means of communication whatsoever to transfer their thoughts, and that their opposite will never understand. This builds up huge frustration, probably mostly about their own lack of communicative skill, and this frustration is vented at the opposite. It's very, very hard to analyse, recognise, and overcome, and the worst is that it destroys so much.

To be honest, I often find myself growling at whoever accuses Holmes of being a "freak", "eccentric", or whatever else they call him. As if that was civil behaviour. In contrast, I love how those people Holmes learns to trust all take him just the way he is, and vice versa. It's pretty much my idea of to live and let live, shot walls and moaning phones included. =P

Ah, sorry for the rambles. ^^" The problem is hard to express without writing an essay, haha.

[tweedisgood.livejournal.com]

It's been agreed quite a lot that Holmes is pretty much a textbook example of autism, the high level functionality type.

I've seen that thought expressed but tbh I couldn't disagree more with it(disclaimer: I am not on the spectrum myself but live with an adult with a diagnosis (son) and another who might get one at a stretch (spouse) and in my personal and professional life have met scores of people with HFA - for me, Holmes simply doesn't fit the profile in any way). He may dislike conventional society but he shows such consistent skill in communicating when he needs to, and perfectly good (indeed well above average) ability to read people both verbally and non-verbally, that I really can't see where people are coming from on that one.

It feels either as though people can't resist, based on a few scattered impressions, putting a label on what is, after all, a fictional character, or (and forgive me if I am treading on toes here, but I've seen it happen and gain, JMO) longing to share their ASD with someone high-achieving and famous, albeit fictional. The latter of course is not necessary - plenty of real people with ASD have notable achievements - but I can see it would be tempting.

Having a temper (in any case arguably Holmes' temper is no worse than Watson's when roused, and often much less explosive - he can be cutting but almost never explodes) can simply be a question of temperament, of being very bright and impatient with slower mortals. It doesn't have to be about frustration in communication or having any impairment in communication onself and again, I see nothing at all in ACD Holmes that indicates anything more than "come on, it's perfectly obvious, keep up people". You don't have to be autistic to do that, just impatient and ultra clever.

BBC Holmes is, at times, consciously played as HFA (according to BC) and in my view, the more they do that, the further away from canon Holmes he gets. YMMV.

[inner-v0ice.livejournal.com]

Ouch. Poor Holmes. Even when on a vacation supposed to let him get away from it all, he can't escape his own mind.

[tweedisgood.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Which, at times, is not a bad thing, as it helps to solve more crimes, but at others, the black moods beckon.

[shadowycat.livejournal.com]

Lovely imagery. He analyzes himself as honestly and shrewdly as he does anyone else.

[tweedisgood.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Holmes, like anyone, is capable of self-deception but I think he tries to avoid it where possible.

[snycock.livejournal.com]

Ooh, very nice metaphor - I like Holmes' description of his depression as something infinitely patient and watchful, that sense that he never can completely escape it.

[tweedisgood.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Fortunately for me, I don't suffer from depression myself, but from accounts I have read it seemed plausible, especially as we know Holmes has had repeat episodes.