Sherlock Holmes In The Speckled Band

Sherlock Holmes is a character who has been known throughout generations. He is famous due to the way he processes and solves complicated mysteries based on small, seemingly insignificant clues. One short story where this characteristic of Holmes is displayed is in the short story “The Speckled Band.” This story is about a women named Helen Stoner who comes to Sherlock Holmes for help since she is afraid that she might die soon, because her hair has turned grey. This assumption she made was due to her sister Julia’s untimely death, along with the fact that Julia’s hair had turned grey before she died. There was also the matter of her suspicious stepfather who had a dark past. It was made pretty clear to me that the stepfather had committed
Throughout time many discourse communities have sprouted up about Sherlock Holmes. I believe that Sherlock Holmes is a very intellectually powerful man who many people see as their role model. He is a role model to these people because he has a totally different approach on situations than other people and he always follows his own mind and not that of others. From these few characteristics that Holmes possesses many people become inspired and they start thinking in a different way and they start following their own mind. This is one of the biggest reasons why these communities exist, since they want to express how Holmes’s characteristics can lead to a more positive and distinctive lifestyle. The traditional fan-club is a group that is devoted or dedicated to a person, idea or group. In this example the Holmes traditional fan-club differs from Holmes discourse communities, since the discourse communities have a specific goal they want to achieve through communication, whether it may be showing Holmes as an independent, strong willed man, or showing Holmes’s different method of thinking. I think that Holmes would be shocked and fascinated seeing how many people care for his thoughts and how many people want to replicate him in a positive
The chapter in Maria Konnikova’s, Mastermind: How To Think Like Sherlock Holmes, was very intriguing and captivating. I felt that it showed me another way to think about day to day situations and how this way could benefit me in a very positive way. The ideas which are expressed in this chapter are very similar to the ones presented in Writing Analytically. One of the greatest similarities between these two writings was the concept of not judging. They both went through how a nonjudgemental process works, in that they stated to first observe every small piece of evidence, then to analyze each piece, and finally to connect the pieces and conclude your process. This kind of thinking was difficult for me in that it required me to get rid of the first solution I came up with in a situation. I had to process all the different solutions that circled around that one situation and I had to break each one down until one of them made the most sense. Even though it was difficult, I feel as if this process is much more beneficial than judging from the first glimpse. I have been mildly successful in “seeing in new ways,” because I have been trying harder not to judge when I see something or someone for the first time, but sometimes it does not work and I let my judgemental side get the best of me. What I liked about the work was how beneficial it was in many different situations such as murder cases, hostage situations, suicides and much more. Yes I would love to explore more about