Explore the significance of the crime elements within
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The Cardboard Box- Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle
‘The Cardboard box’ is a crime
fiction short story written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the short story comes
from the well know Sherlock Holmes collection and contains the typical elements
of a crime fiction. The story, told to us in the narrative voice of Dr Watson-
the detectives sidekick, tells us a story in which an innocent lady receives
two ears in the post. The crime fiction takes us through a journey of getting
to the bottom of the case, like all good crime fictions it not as simple as it
seems.
The story starts of in the
simple setting of the detective’s (Sherlock Holmes) and his sidekick’s (Dr
Watson) house on Baker Street described to us as an ‘oven’. This simple setting
sets the story off to a nice slow start with nothing exciting happening. This allows
Doyle to build the story up and create more excitement for the audience as they
are able to connect to the two main characters more by getting to know them as
normal people rather than just detectives. After learning about the two main
characters and being made aware of Watson’s life in the army, we are introduced
to the crime and the mystery, an innocent woman has received two ears in the
post. The scene then changes as they start their investigation to get to the
bottom of the case. We are taken to Miss Cushing’s ‘neat and prim’ house, this
is the place where the seriousness of the crime really kicks in with the
audience and the audience start to get excited. The description of the house
contradicts what is inside, the outside of the house is describes as ‘neat’ and
really gives a positive description and creates a pretty image in the reader’s
mind. However, as the story goes on and we are taken in to the house and
Sherlock Holmes opens a cardboard box in which two ears are kept. The description
of the two ears is a complete opposite to the outside of the house ‘they have
been cut off with a blunt instrument’ the gory description of the ears will
intrigue the readers as they shouldn’t like hearing about it but they do.
The narrative voice is Dr
Watson the sidekick/assistant of the main detective, Sherlock. By having Dr
Watson as the narrative voice it gives the reader an inside view to the
investigation as they will feel closer to the crime which makes it more
exciting or the reader. The reader is told details about the investigation from
an insider’s point of view, this will give them a clearer understanding of what
is going on as they ill feel like they are actually there investigating the
mystery too. This is important for a crime fiction as in most good grime
fiction novels the audience will feel like they are taking part and will feel
connected to the story. This is done in The Cardboard Box as we are told about
the murder of Sarah and her partner, this is exciting as it involves a chase
the way this is told in the story makes me as a reader feel excited as it is
fast paced and makes me feel connected to the story and the investigation into
the crime.
Another element of crime
fiction which ‘The Cardboard box’ follows is the typical crime conventions such
as an inspector, Sherlock Holmes is the main character in this short story. His
role as a character is to get to the bottom of the investigation, which he
does. Sherlock Holmes makes the story more exciting as he is an intriguing character.
In crime fiction novels it is important to have a interesting character/detective
as this will grasp the readers attention and help the follow the plot. It is
also important to have a sidekick to which the audience like and can relate to,
this is because as a reader when we read a crime fiction story we like to play
the role of the detective’s assistant. Dr Watson is a likeable character as at
the beginning we are told about his time in the war. This creates sympathy for
the character and this sympathy is carried on throughout the story because we
compare him to Sherlock who is a highly intelligent character at Dr Watson is
not as clever.
For a crime fiction story to
work there has to be a crime, the crime in this story is typical of crime
fiction as it is a murder. The crime is important as this has to be grasping
for the reader but also has to be easy to follow and not over complicated. The murder
in the story is fairly complicated and takes a lot of working out but is exciting
for the readers. One element of crime fiction, which takes place in this story
is that the reader is trying to solve the crime. The reader should try to act
like a detective and solve the crime and feel like they are part of the
investigation. By the reader doing this they get a thrill and will want to read
more.
The story flicks from past and
present, this is significant to crime as it takes the reader on a journey
through the investigation. This adds to the element of mystery as at times it
leaves the readers in anticipation as they are waiting for the story to flick
back to the past to find out more about the crime or background information on
a victim or villain. This all adds to the excitement that the reader gets when
they read the crime fiction. This excitement also comes from the rapid paced
action described in the story ‘they were going nearly as fast I was’. Throughout
the description of the murder the audience get a thrill out of it as they feel
like they are there. Another important factor of crime fiction novels is a
villain and a victim, in this particular story there are two victims. It is
important to have a villain as they are at the core of the plot and story line.
In this story we feel slightly sorry for the villain as his partner was
cheating on him and this is what vents is anger and why he kills her and the
man she was having an affair with. This novel makes us, the reader question if
the murderer is actually a victim rather than a villain and if the people who
were murdered were actually villains for betraying somebodys trust.
To conclude, ‘The Cardboard
Box’ has all the significant elements needed to make it a successful crime
fiction. It has a crime, a victim and a villain. All of these are significant
to the story and make the reader want to read more as they become more involved
with the crime. All these elements, make the reader want to read more and get
to the bottom of the investigation. I believe this is important to a crime
novel and all of these factors are relevant.
