Silver Blaze

Two characters that could have possibly been guilty are Fitzroy Simpson and Silias Brown. Simpson could have been framed as the killer because he had been at the racing yard the night the crime took place and his belongings such as a red and black silk cravat had been found with Straker who lay dead on the ground. A blow to the head had killed Straker, and this also could be seen as though Simpson had had something to do with it as he had been carrying a top heavy lead-weighted stick that same night. Browns' motif could have been that he wanted Silver Blaze out of the way as one of the horses he was training was second to favourite, and that if Silver Blaze did not run or could not enter the race for any reason, the prize money would be raised for his horse that would probably win. Conan Doyle did not use these as the murderer as they would have been to simple, and there would be no suspense or mystery used. They would have been too obvious and there would be no element of surprise when the killer had been discovered. As the villain was also the victim, he could not suffer any consequences, and the story would therefore be tied up.

Conan Doyle presents Sherlock Holmes as an intensely clever individual with a lot of scope. He can think very clearly and evaluates every last bit of evidence so he can piece together the story, not by jumping to conclusions like others. He appears to be quite emotional as he thinks a lot, but lets no one know his feelings. Sherlock realises he is a clever and gifted person, but does not refuse to admit when he is wrong. Holmes can be full of himself and sometimes tries to trick people by piecing his clever ideas together.

The 'I' of the story is Sherlock Holmes' assistant, Watson. Doyle presents the story this way so we can see it through our eyes, watching, studying Holmes through our own point of view. He acts as a passageway from being the audience to being in the story, so you can become more absorbed into it. The best thing about the story was the way it was cunningly pieced together, so that every turn was surprising. I didn't think there was a bad part of the story, as it was all interesting to me. I enjoyed it and thought it was a good story to read. Seeing the video of the story was better as it allowed me to visualize things more and to create a clearer picture in my head of what was going on. I preferred reading the text rather than the video as it allowed me to create my own visualizations of what is going on without being moulded to the settings of the video.

I really enjoyed the story as it always had something interesting happening in it. The story line was very good and I would definitely read more by Conan Doyle, as his style of writing suits my taste.

By Cherida Jasmine Griffiths