Write about the ways in which Haddon tells the story in chapter 107.

541 Words3 Pages
Sherlock Holmes, a hero of Christopher and a basis for chapter 107. Christopher utilises the story of ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ as a way to explain a murder mystery novel. The novel itself conforms to many of the rules of a murder mystery. In the chapter Christopher confirms the readers suspicions of this by talking of Sherlock Holmes and his investigations. We see Christopher admiring the way the detective works, detaching himself from the world and seeing things which many people don’t. ‘The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.’ And ‘Sherlock Holmes had, in a very remarkable degree, the power of detaching his mind at will. Due to Christopher’s condition this is a very rare thing we see as it is showing slight emotion of admiration. Whereas Christopher never shows emotion; when he talks of his mother’s death you only get the straight facts from Christopher and never how he feels. So at this point we have a re-evaluation of the character. He starts with telling the reader of the plot of the story, using the word ‘and’ a lot. ‘And when they found him, the daughter…for the rest of there days’ This can show us of the way Christopher’s mind works as he is listing the main points of the story. Christopher works in a logical way, so the use of lists comes natural to him. Therefore gaining more knowledge of our protagonist and also clues towards his disability, which we are never told of. Listing and numbering also varies the form of the text. Christopher’s use of the technique occurs several times in the chapter, when talking of clues and red herrings featured in ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ and the facts about Sherlock Holmes. ‘1. Two of Sir Henry Baskerville’s boots go missing when he is staying at a hotel in London’, ‘2. Selden, the Notting Hill murderer’ and ‘ 2. In the original Sherlock Holmes… and on the television.’
Open Document