The interest of the reader Throughout Essay Example for Free

The interest of the reader Throughout Essay In the story the Adventure of the Speckled Band a girl dies mysteriously. No one knows how she died, and her sister, fearing for her own life, goes to see Sherlock Holmes. She tells him all about the mysterious death of her sister and he goes to her home, with his assistant Dr Watson, to investigate. They stay in the room that the girl was in when she died and discover that theres an air-vent that runs from the stepfathers bedroom to the girls bedroom. The bed is bolted to the floor so it cant be moved away from the wall and theres a bell-pull by the bed that isnt connected, its fake. In the end they discover that the stepfather wasnt happy about the girl getting married because he didnt want her husband to get her money so he killed her using an Indian Swamp Adder the Speckled Band. As the sister of the dead girl was getting married, the stepfather moved her into her sisters bedroom, next to his, and tried to kill her before she married. The relationship between the stepfather and the two women was not the best of father-daughter relationships. They hated him and he didnt exactly like them because theyd inherit his money when he died. The mystery was solved and his plan backfired, the snake bit him and killed him instantly, before he had a chance to kill the daughter. Conan Doyle keeps the reader in suspense throughout the story. He does this by giving the reader clues, which dont make sense when theyre first given, and lead you down the wrong path completely. These are called red herrings, something that make you think one thing when its actually something completely different. In the end all the clues Conan Doyle has given make sense. The story keeps the reader in suspense because its a mystery story. As its to do with a murder, that makes the story more exciting and makes you want to read on and find out what actually happens at the end and what conclusion Sherlock Holmes comes to at the end and whether or not its correct. I thought this story was a bit boring, as it was 19th century. Back then it would probably have been thought to be a very good story, but I prefer more up-to-date stories. I didnt find it that bad or that good. Im glad it wasnt too long because I would probably have got very fed up of it if it had gone on and on and on. It gave you all the facts and information you needed and didnt go on and on about one thing for too long. It was kept short and sweet. In that way I thought it was ok. In the story the stepfather is a doctor and worked over in India but got sent back to England because of his violent temper, as he struck a person for something that wasnt their fault. The doctor had animals imported from countries hed worked in, e. g. ) India. He kept a cheetah, an orangutan, which everyone knew about in the village, and an Indian swamp adder, (the speckled band), which no one except the doctor, knew about. In the story the doctor rents out some of the land he owns to some gypsies. At first when people hear about the mysterious death at the manor, some think that it was the cheetah or the orangutan that had killed Julia, and some think the speckled band was a bandanna that the gypsies wore and that it was one of them that had murdered her. Others didnt know what to think. After some investigating, Sherlock Holmes solved the mystery, with the help of his assistant, Dr Watson, and the story had a happy ending. Helen, Julias sister got married and the doctor, her stepfather, got killed by the swamp adder he was going to use to kill Helen like he did Julia.