Compare and Contrast Representations of History in Irvine Welsh's 'the Acid House' and Arthur Conan Doyle's 'the Adventure of the Speckled Band'

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As would be expected from a book written back in 1892 (but however, set in 1883), 'The Adventure of the Speckled Band' gives us glimpses as to the history of various aspects during the 1800's, both included in the short story and also the time in which it was written. The age in which it was written has put its own imprint on the style that it carries, in features such as the language used, the society its set in and also other little aspects that are brought in, such as transport and the actual appearances of people during that era. A short story written all those years ago is bound to hold an interesting aspect of history about it, as it was based and written in an era which totally differs from what we are used to in this day and age. Irvine Welsh's 'The Acid House' is a short story published in 1995, and presents a history to which we can relate and recognise in today's society. The comparison of the language, society and other various aspects shown in 'The Acid House', to that of the Sherlock Holmes' short story mentioned above, reveals two very different forms of history and the developments, but also degradation, of certain features included in both. An example of the changes in history between the two stories, is strongly seen in the language and dialect used by both authors. In 'The Adventure of the Speckled Band', the language and form of dialect used by the characters is typical to what we would think of English gentlemen and ladies of that era would use. The choice of words and sentence structure used by Sherlock, and the other figures in the short story, are, in itself, part of history, a way of speaking which is no longer used or carried out in today's society. For example, at the beginning of the story Sherlock is faced with a woman who is clearly afraid of the situation she is in. The encouragement or reassurance that he gives is said like so,

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