From 75dbe49d65e3b79e8c2e80f7e83111f362cb95c8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Holden Rohrer Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2020 00:31:34 -0400 Subject: did a quiz on the sign of four --- markley/08_quiz | 94 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 94 insertions(+) create mode 100644 markley/08_quiz diff --git a/markley/08_quiz b/markley/08_quiz new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a224ce --- /dev/null +++ b/markley/08_quiz @@ -0,0 +1,94 @@ +1. What year was *The Sign of Four* published and who wrote it? + +*The Sign of Four* was published in 1890 by Arthur Conan Doyle. + +2. When Sherlock Holmes doesn’t have a case, how does he stimulate his +mind? + +He does drugs, which are often---at the time---prescribed for +nervousness or psychosis, namely morphine and cocaine (he does cocaine +in this book). + +3. Where was Dr. Watson and what was he doing before coming to London to +live with Holmes? + +He was an army surgeon, which is where he hurt his leg. + +4. What happened to Captain Morstan? + +He died during an argument with Major Sholto, when he got up in anger--- +almost immediately succumbing to some long-stading heart malady, causing +him to faint and burst his head on a table. +Sholto didn't think anyone would believe that he hadn't killed Morstan, +so Sholto buried the body and took possession of the Indian treasure. + +5. How did Major John Sholto become wealthy? + +He brought back "Indian curiosities" and a household of servants to +England after serving in the Indian Army. +Included in these "Indian curiosities" is the treasure that he found +with the aid of some convicts and Morstan, which is why multiple people +believe to be the rightful owners of his wealth. + +6. Who is Jonathan Small and what is his defining physical feature? + +Jonathan Small is the thief of the treasure and the murderer of Sholto. +He is identified by his wooden peg leg. + +7. What character in *The Sign of Four* most closely resembles Dr. +Jekyll? Please explain. There are no wrong answers. + +In his image as a professional, Holmes most closely resembles Jekyll. +They are both portrayed as astute, mostly likeable, well-respected men, +and Holmes happens to have similar addictive traits as Jekyll which +require his "constant mental stimulation." + +8. How does *The Sign of Four* use "health" to illustrate different +character traits? Please give at least one direct quotation and explain. + +*The Sign of Four* uses Sholto's hypochondria as a proxy for his nervous +traits. +Dr. Watson says he is a "confirmed hypochondriac," spouting +"interminable trains of symptoms." +Sholto is also specifically worried about his heart: "The aortic I may +rely upon, but I should value your opinion upon the mitral." + +It also uses Sherlock's cocaine addiction to demonstrate his +intellectual hunger. +The author applies medication usage and concern about health to proxy +a character's constitution, general nervousness/aloofness, and +obsessiveness versus a more detached predilection. + +9. Last week, we discussed racial pseudoscience, phrenology, social +Darwinism, and eugenics. How does the author characterize non-white and +non-English people? Why? Give at least one direct quotation and explain. + +The author characterises many non-white people as ugly and unattractive. +The most prominent example is Thaddeus Sholto, described as having "a +pendulous lip, and a too visible line of yellow and irregular teeth," +but this is represented in other descriptions of non-white people as +improper. + +10. What common themes do The Sign of Four and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde +share? + +Both of these stories are set in wealthy, high-class London with +medicine playing a role in the development of the characters. +Both are also structured as detective novels, uncovering some nefarious +act that has occurred. +For Dr. Jekyll, this is his self-experimentation and theorizing about +the "duality of man" and high moral principles. +For Watson, this is the repeated thefts and corruptions that come from +the chest of Indian treasure. +The similar theme between these two moral crimes is a corrupting +influence. +In The Sign of Four, wealth plays that role---but Watson's cocaine habit +shows that the corruption of character can come about in other ways. +Watson and Hyde, deliberate misanthropes, draw many similarities that +correspond with this theme: people are easily corrupted, especially in +situations of power or advantage. +This falls right back into Jekyll's duality of man theory and theme. +People are usually at least part evil and part good, and like Jekyll's +potion, the ill-gotten treasure helps bring out the worse even in +kind-hearted Watson (he struggles to congratulate Morstan on her new +wealth). -- cgit