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The Blue Carbuncle
Aug. 1st, 2020 09:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mightymadsAccording to various web sources, any red precious stones were called carbuncles, garnet in particular. So the very name “blue carbuncle” is weird.
I didn’t take many notes this time. Instead I tried to look up stuff like whether a goose could really swallow a stone and be okay. Turns out it could, and it’s actually normal for birds like geese to swallow sharp stones. Such stones work like teeth in a goose’s stomach, helping to grind food. In time the stones become smooth, and the bird either lets them pass through its digestive tract and out or regurgitates them. Then the bird swallows a new portion of sharp stones, etc.
1. The importance of Watson’s presence to Holmes
As was discussed in the previous posts, Holmes expresses his appreciation of Watson’s company time and time again. This story is not an exception.
“I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss my results.”
Watson is indispensable to Holmes. Holmes needs Watson: Watson is interested in his cases, he hears him out and provides an emotional support if necessary.
2. Holmes is fashion-savvy
Watson noted Holmes’s primness of dress and love of personal cleanliness. In this story it is established that Holmes may be something of a dandy too, since he knows precisely when such and such design of hats was in vogue.
3. Holmes is a bit self-assured in his deductions
What if the hat was someone’s present to Mr. Baker, together with the hat-securer? Say, Baker couldn’t afford it and didn’t care when the hat-securer was lost. Thus the deduction of his moral retrogression could be wrong. Also, the correlation between the brain size and intelligence has been disproved.
4. Watson doctoring yet again
Watson could be actually busier than he seemed. Despite his mentioning casually in NAVA that his practice “is never absorbing”, in this story, like in those preceding it, he has a full schedule. He is in the middle of making his rounds when he drops in to see Holmes the next day, and he is nearly late to meet Mr. Baker because of having been delayed by a patient.
5. Holmes’s empathy and humanity
“greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he could so readily assume.” Canon disproves yet again the popular misconception that Holmes is an arrogantjerk misanthrope.
“It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is more adapted for summer than for winter.” This gets even better.
“A few yards off he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless fashion which was peculiar to him.” And this is just adorable.
“I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just possible that I am saving a soul.” “Besides, it is the season of forgiveness.” This, however, crowns everything. Holmes cares even about such a mean and cowardly person as James Ryder, preferring to give him a chance of redeeming himself instead of sending Ryder to prison and thus inevitably pushing him towards the world of crime. Also, another instance when Holmes takes judging into his own hands, acting in accordance with his own conscience rather than law.
6. Holmes’s coat
“It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped cravats about our throats.” And lastly, this minor detail. Inverness is never mentioned in the canon. Ulster is. Besides, both Holmes and Watson are wearing one.
I didn’t take many notes this time. Instead I tried to look up stuff like whether a goose could really swallow a stone and be okay. Turns out it could, and it’s actually normal for birds like geese to swallow sharp stones. Such stones work like teeth in a goose’s stomach, helping to grind food. In time the stones become smooth, and the bird either lets them pass through its digestive tract and out or regurgitates them. Then the bird swallows a new portion of sharp stones, etc.
1. The importance of Watson’s presence to Holmes
As was discussed in the previous posts, Holmes expresses his appreciation of Watson’s company time and time again. This story is not an exception.
“I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss my results.”
Watson is indispensable to Holmes. Holmes needs Watson: Watson is interested in his cases, he hears him out and provides an emotional support if necessary.
2. Holmes is fashion-savvy
Watson noted Holmes’s primness of dress and love of personal cleanliness. In this story it is established that Holmes may be something of a dandy too, since he knows precisely when such and such design of hats was in vogue.
3. Holmes is a bit self-assured in his deductions
What if the hat was someone’s present to Mr. Baker, together with the hat-securer? Say, Baker couldn’t afford it and didn’t care when the hat-securer was lost. Thus the deduction of his moral retrogression could be wrong. Also, the correlation between the brain size and intelligence has been disproved.
4. Watson doctoring yet again
Watson could be actually busier than he seemed. Despite his mentioning casually in NAVA that his practice “is never absorbing”, in this story, like in those preceding it, he has a full schedule. He is in the middle of making his rounds when he drops in to see Holmes the next day, and he is nearly late to meet Mr. Baker because of having been delayed by a patient.
5. Holmes’s empathy and humanity
“greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he could so readily assume.” Canon disproves yet again the popular misconception that Holmes is an arrogant
“It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is more adapted for summer than for winter.” This gets even better.
“A few yards off he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless fashion which was peculiar to him.” And this is just adorable.
“I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just possible that I am saving a soul.” “Besides, it is the season of forgiveness.” This, however, crowns everything. Holmes cares even about such a mean and cowardly person as James Ryder, preferring to give him a chance of redeeming himself instead of sending Ryder to prison and thus inevitably pushing him towards the world of crime. Also, another instance when Holmes takes judging into his own hands, acting in accordance with his own conscience rather than law.
6. Holmes’s coat
“It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped cravats about our throats.” And lastly, this minor detail. Inverness is never mentioned in the canon. Ulster is. Besides, both Holmes and Watson are wearing one.
