A Study in Scarlet: Important Quotes Explained

“I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it - there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."

A Study in Scarlet- a graphic novel (2010)

       This passage comes from an interesting conversation in which Dr. Watson is becoming increasingly aware of the many quirks and oddities associated with his unusual new friend. After Holmes admits to Dr Watson that he knew nothing about Carlyle’s Copernican Theory and the composition of the universe, a knowledge which Watson perceived to be a universal understanding for all, Homes amusingly explains that even after knowing he would certainly “forget it” (Doyle 9). This is what launches us into this rather unique and telling passage related to Holmes crafting of his skill and his ability to be highly specialized in the knowledge of certain relevant topics, all while remaining completely ignorant of basic understandings of things which do not pertain to these specific interests.
        The passage presents a unique idea that the human mind is an open canvas which does not absorb any and all information, but a person must take an active role in choosing how he develops his mind. Holmes presents a unique perception of the human understanding, in which the person must craft and select what he allows within his own understanding, and ultimately he should only select information which pertain to his or her profession and which “may help him in doing his work.”
         Doyle very purposefully includes this passage before Dr Watson and the reader are aware what Holmes’ profession is, thus creating another mystery surrounding the detective, but also allowing Holmes’s discourse to stand as a more universal treatise on the human mind rather than a specific technique within his field of detection. The passage fits into this larger argument of specialization, and ultimately presents the benefits as well as the potential limitations which result from this form of brain-building. This passage identifies man’s ability to craft his own mind and develop skills through this process which will enable him to succeed in any given field he seeks to develop. Yet the problem identified in this passage is that the human mind is limited and thus specialization allows for genius in certain fields, and yet also requires gaps in knowledge or the complete ignorance of “basic understandings.” Holmes as the troubled genius detective represents this conflict perfectly.

A Study in Scarlet- a graphic novel (2010) Watson's list of Holmes unique set of skills

"By a man's finger-nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boots, by his trouser knees, by the callosities of his forefinger and thumb, by his expression, by his shirt cuffs -- by each of these things a man's calling is plainly revealed. That all united should fail to enlighten the competent inquirer in any case is almost inconceivable."

This passage comes from Sherlock Holmes’s larger discourse on deduction on the unique process to

which he ascribes all of his success as a detective. Holmes argues that through the power of deduction, or otherwise the process of taking a large hypothesis and working down to more specific details in order to prove this larger idea. This passage is very significant as it serves to reveal the flaw in Holmes’s own reasoning and identifies that the method in which Holmes is actually applying in his detective work is not deduction but induction; the process of taking these small details or clues like the finger-nails or the trousers and bringing all of these small pieces into a larger claim. This is exactly the process which Holmes is describing here and it is this same method of detection which he applies throughout the case of A Study in Scarlet in order to ultimately discover the culprit, Jefferson Hope.

An important ideal associated with detective fiction of this era is that the detection narrative reveals the power for ordinary objects and everyday things to be telling clues into a mystery or crime. This passage identifies the troubling truth that everything is observed and can thus be used to draw out or expose abnormal behavior. As D.A. Miller reveals, the troubling reality of detective fiction is “the fearful prospect of an absolute surveillance, under which everything would be known, incriminated, and policed” (35). While Holmes in this passage is merely discussing the ability to determine one’s character and profession from external elements, the implications presented in this passage represent Miller’s argument perfectly. The detective like Holmes is able to observe and take in all the ordinary and observable pieces of scene, and thus draw any conclusion based on these evidences. Holmes even goes so far to say that by this process a competent detective could not possibly fail in this process of observable detection. Thus Doyle presents here that anything and everything from your finger-nails to the expression on your face is being noticed and observed and every truth can be observed from these small observations.

Miller, D.A. The Novel and the Police. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1989. Print