The Importance of Details

After reading “A Case of Identity”, I feel the magic of Mr. Holmes again. He has been my hero and a symbol of intelligence since I was twelve. This time, Sherlock Holmes’ perfect ratiocination conquered me again and this made me want to applaud for him.

 This story mainly narrates that a young woman’s bride-to-be suddenly disappeared on the wedding morning. Whereas, just before their arrival to the church, the bride-to-be made her swear that whatever happened, she should be loyal to him. As a consequence, she thought that her bride-to-be must had encountered some problems which could not be solved. Then Holmes inquired about their process of getting to know each other, and found that she even did not know his accurate address, their communications were almost by mails except for a few face-to-face talking. What’s more, the bride-to-be’s letters were typewritten. It was only vague appearance of that man, ambiguous address and the implied words spoken by him before he disappeared that the woman had in mind. This incident sounded mysterious, and motivation also made people shudder.

 Although this case was of mystery, Holmes figured it out immediately throughout a short talk with his client Miss Sutherland. This might sounded amazing, however, if we read this book carefully, we may find it clear to know the whole process of this incident. Also, it was Holmes who paid attention to those negligible details and solved the incident finally. At first, by all appearances, he could judge the identity of his client Miss Sutherland and her characteristics. Then, when Miss Sutherland told him about her stepfather, he showed interest in what she said. Because the stepfather was the key to the case. When she said that her bride-to-be always wrote letters typewritten to her and she never knew the exact appearance and address of her bride-to-be, Holmes had already linked the young gentleman with her stepfather, in my opinion, because it was what I thought then. Finally, when Holmes invited Miss Sutherland’s stepfather Mr. Windibank to Baker Street, he had detected all the things and had had evidence which could be used to prove that Mr. Windibank and Mr. Angel (Miss Sutherland’s bride-to-be) was the same person. How could he do this so quickly? Obviously, it was details. Sometimes, details can decide the whole thing. It is also what I have learned from this book.

 Then, I want to talk about Holmes’ thinking progress of this incident. He first analyzed the motivation of the case. There was no doubt that the only man who really profited by the incident was the stepfather, because if the woman got married, he would lose a big sum of money. He tried everything he could to prevent her from getting married. After targeting the stepfather, Holmes found that the two men were never together, but that the one always appeared when the other was away. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. At that time, Holmes had confirmed that the suspect was her stepfather, and that Mr. Windibank and Mr. Angel was the same person. Finally, to verify it, Holmes sent a letter to the firm where the man worked to ask if he would come to Baker Street. As Holmes expected, his reply was typewritten and revealed the same trival but characteristic defects. At the same time, the same post brought him a letter from Westhouse&Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the description tailed in every respect with that of their employee, James Windibank. So, the truth was dug out by Mr. Holmes.

 This time, I feel the happiness of detection again. I admire Sherlock Holmes, not only because of his talent in detecting, but also because of his careful observation. It seems that he was born with special genius. Hence, although this story doesn’t have any murder or other exciting things, Holmes’ whole detection without going out of his house has its own charm. I just want to say: Fantastic!

 However, at last, I want to put up my only question: How should Holmes tell this truth to Miss Sutherland? Just as Holmes himself said,” If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old Persian saying,’ There is a danger for him who taketh the tiger cub, and danger for who so snatches a delusion from a woman.’” However, if he doesn’t tell her the truth, Miss Sutherland must keep waiting for her bride-to-be, she couldn’t forget him. It seems that this time, Even Holmes doesn’t have a good idea to solve a woman’s affair.

2014-10-27

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