Short stories of Sherlock Holmes Essay Example for Free

Short stories of Sherlock Holmes Essay Title: Review two stories for a magazine called Crime Monthly, saying why such old examples of the crime genre are still popular today. Introduction Many people say that the short stories of Sherlock Holmes were the best detective stories ever written. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote these stories, which were first published in the Strand magazine in 1890. These stories included A Scandal in Bohemia, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Copper Beaches, A Case of Identity, The Man With The Twisted Lip and others. People in Victorian England really enjoyed reading the stories, the main reason for which was that there were many murderers running free at the time, which the police force couldnt catch so people didnt believe that the police was sufficient. Arthur Conan Doyles character was very liked because no case seemed to challenge him and he always defeated the evil villain. The Red Headed League was first published in 1891 and The Speckled Band was first published in 1892 in the Strand magazine. One of the key elements of Victorian detective stories is that the crime must be solved by logical means, not by supernatural causes or by a lucky accident. This is what happened in all of the Sherlock Holmes stories. In both The Red Headed League and The Speckled Band Sherlock Holmes solves the crimes by using powers of deduction and his own intelligence. Another important element of Victorian detective stories is that the investigator must not wittingly conceal clues or the reasons for his deductions from the reader. At the end of both stories Sherlock Holmes explains to the villain and to his companion Dr Watson how he solved the crime. Even though the stories of Sherlock Holmes are over a century old they are still read and loved by millions of people across the world today. I think the main reason for this is because Arthur Conan Doyle used many techniques, like red herrings, twists, and very detailed descriptions of the characters and settings which makes the reader feel as though they are part of the story and encourages the reader to try and solve the mystery themselves. Also, even though the stories were written over 100 years the crime that was going on then is still going on now and people still like the thought of villains always being punished, so the Victorian society is very similar to our society at the moment. Arthur Conan Doyle used very detailed descriptions of the setting and location in the two stories to create a certain atmosphere. The Head Headed League was set in London, mainly around Saxe-Couburg Square, in 1891. Arthur Conan Doyle created an atmosphere by saying that Saxe-Couburg Square is a pokey, little, shabby-genteel place, which immediately makes the reader imagine a worn out and cramped place, also it makes the reader suspect that something bad happens there, because there is often trouble in such places. The Square is described as being dingy, which makes the reader think that the place is dark and dirty with smoke and grime. The writer even describes the atmosphere as being uncongenial so obviously it is not a very pleasant place to live in. This atmosphere is created so that the reader can deduct that Jabez Wilson wasnt very well off and that he desperately needed the money that Mr Duncan Ross gave him to look after his home and business. The Speckled Band was mainly set in Stoke Moran, Surrey, in 1883. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created an atmosphere by saying that the house is half renovated and half in a ruin. The building itself is described as having a high central portion and two wings. This sounds like it once was a very big and grand house, but over the past couple of years Dr Roylott didnt have enough money to look after it. He didnt have enough money to look after the whole house so he modernized half of the house, so the left half was left with broken windows blocked with wooden boards and with the roof being partly caved in. In contrast, the right part of the house was comparatively modern. This atmosphere is created so that the reader can deduct that Dr Roylott didnt have enough money to look after the house, and the extra sum of money that would go to Helen Stoner after her marriage would have ruined him. The main characters in all of the Sherlock Holmes stories are Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. Dr Watson is Holmes colleague, who appears to be a lot weaker then him in solving crimes. The main reason for this, seems that Dr Watson doesnt notice things that Holmes does, like when they were both observing Mr Jabez Wilson in The Red Headed League Watson noticed the outside appearance, such as that he was wearing baggy grey shepherds check trousers, whereas Holmes noticed much deeper things, such as that hes done manual labour because his right hand is bigger than his left. Also the language that Holmes uses is a lot more mysterious then the language that Watson uses which suggests to the reader that Watson is less educated then Holmes. Holmes uses many different techniques to solve the crimes in both stories, mainly he follows clues and uses his own intelligence. Holmes is very skilful, he is not only a great detective but also a master of disguise. This was shown in both The Man With The Twisted Lip and A Scandal in Bohemia, where Holmes disguised himself as a drug addict and an old man. Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are similar to a few modern day detectives like Inspector Morse and Detective Lewis because they too follow clues to solve the crime and they work as a duo. Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson follow clues to make deductions and solve the crimes. The first clue in The Red Headed League was that the clerk agreed to work for half wages which meant that he was either not very clever of he had a special reason for wanting to work at the pawnbrokers. Holmes assumes the second is true. The advertisement for the Red Headed League was another clue because it seemed almost as though it was targeted at Jabez Wilson, which was very suspicious. The nature of the job was another clue because it was use-less therefore we could deduct that the job was merely an activity that would get Jabez Wilson out of the shop. Then when Jabez Wilson described his assistant Vincent Spaulding, Holmes instantly recognized the description and realized that his real name is John Clay and hes a murderer. Spauldings interest in photography and his stained wrinkled trousers suggested that he did something dirty in the seller, like maybe he was digging a tunnel. Then Holmes tapped on the payment in front of Jabez Wilsons shop and the tunnel wasnt there, so he went to the back of the shop to find a City and Suburban bank, which is probably the place were the tunnel is going to. The fact that the Red Headed League was dissolved was a clue to that the digging had finished. And the fact that nineteenth-century banks were closed on weekends and Mondays so Holmes knew that John Clay would rob the bank on Saturday, leaving plenty of time to get away.

walmart Essay -- essays research papers

Describe the nature of the industry in which Wal-Mart competes   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The discount retailing industry, in which Wal-Mart competes, suffered slower growth in industry sales and in new store increases by reaching maturity. This resulted in a shakeout that has left the industry very concentrated. These trends are likely to continue due to intensified competition driven by companies seeking to expand market share by gaining efficiencis and economies of scale in distribution and purchasing. Indeed, in 1993 the top 5 discounters accounted for over 70% of total industry sales. Consequently, barriers to entry are high. Other barriers to entry include the high capital expenditure requirements of leasing or buying the stores; promotional costs; vast capital costs of leasing or buying warehouses and distribution channels in order to buy and store the product; costs of training and hiring the work-force to provide high-quality customer service. Finally, the threat of subsitution is high, for all the merchandize is readily available at many type s of stores; this reinforces the need to compete on prices, costs and customer-focus. As growth in this industry slowed securing more market share is the critical way to compete as only then are you able to leverage your economies of scale to build cost advantages.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The nature of Wal-Mart’s competitive priorities are based on the foundational of minimizing all its costs vis-à  -vis its competitiors so that it may provide the lowest cost merchandise, and thereby boost its market share. Wal-Mart aims to differentiate itself, and enhnce it’s competitiveness, by making technology, its advanced computer and telecommunication system, a core competency. This maintenance of superior technology greatly enhances Wal-Marts ability to focus on building and maintaining relationships with its customers, suppliers and employees; for example, it cuts down on unnecessary large inventory levels and enables intimate and timely contact with suppliers. Wal-Mart further competes on cost, ‘value of the dollar’ philosophy, and also performance quality, by adding value through its training program and its corporate culture which increases customer satisfaction. However, Wal-Mart’s management which initially portraye d itself as the lowest cost provider had to change this policy partially because it becam... ...r relative to its suppliers, Wal-Mart was able to implement and enforce radical cost-cutting measures; these included saving realized by eliminating manufacturer’s representatives from negotiations with suppliers; by making its vendors pay for communicating expenses. Wal-Mart’s decentralized, incentive driven corporate cultural program is also a major asset in reducing costs for, despite non-unionization, employees assisted in realizing savings and in keeping ‘shrinking’ costs below their competitors. This program also raises employee satisfaction, and probably reduces employee turnover (thereby reducing costs for training new workers), and boosts customer satisfaction. Wal-Mart’s hihgly-automated two-step hub distribution network, involving greater supplier participation, and usage of techniques such as ‘cross-docking’ enabled the company to utilize even quicker inventory control (resembling a manufacturing firm’s JIT). Final ly, even the location of the distribution centers and stores, which were grouped together, enhanced the speed with which inventory was managed. It also meant that trucks could be used which further reduced costs and increased reliability and speed of service.

Nazi Concentration Camps

The Holocaust was one of the world’s worst genocides; concentration camps were the worst place to be if you were a captive. Adolf Hitler, a Nazi, convinced many that certain groups of people needed to be exterminated. He started concentration camps to terrorize his enemies. The first concentration camps started in 1933, six years before World War Two began. There were several concentration camps. These concentration camps consisted of European Jews, P. O. W. ’s (Prisoners of War), political prisoners, criminals, homosexuals, and gypsies, the mentally ill and other groups.The first concentration camp was called Dachau, located in Munich, Germany. It was opened March 22, 1933. Within five years of Dachau opening, the number of concentration camps quadrupled. The Nazis created different types of camps, for example, labor camps, transit and collection camps, P. O. W. camps, hostage (or death camps), and extermination camps. Labor concentration camps were where inmates had t o do hard labor under inhumane conditions and cruel treatment. Transit and collection camps were where inmates were collected and transferred to main camps.Prisoner of war camps were where prisoners were held after being captured. These P. O. W. camps caused torture and liquidation of prisoners on a large scale. Death camps were where hostages were held and killed as reprisals. Extermination camps were a mixture of the other camps and were not useful people were sent to be killed. These concentration camps were all horrible but Auschwitz was the worst. Auschwitz was located in Poland and was opened in June 1940. Auschwitz was a total of 40 kilometers. Auschwitz was a labor and extermination camp. Auschwitz had three other sub camps Auschwitz 2 Birkenau and Auschwitz 3.Auschwitz had the highest death count compared to any other camp. It’s estimated that 4 million people were sent to Auschwitz and 1. 1 million died at Auschwitz. The prisoners died of starvation, exhaustion, dis eases, or killed inhumanely by being shot, burned, or gassed. For the most part, children and elders in the concentration camps were treated the worst. If a child was born in a concentration camp, they would be killed on the spot. Most children and elders were killed as soon as they got to the concentration camps if they looked too weak to be useful to work.Some were used for drug and surgery experiments. To save the amount of poison gas and ammunition used to kill people, some children would be thrown into ovens or put into open fire pits. These prisoners were also beaten, put in pressure chambers, or frozen to death. The Nazis were brutal and didn’t care who they killed. There were many escape attempts, though only 802 attempts on record. Only 144 made it out but most of them were caught and killed, or taken back to camp and starved to death. If someone successfully made it out of the camp, random people in their prisoner block would be starved.One of the most successful es capes was when a few prisoners dressed as guards, stole a car and drove out the front gate, they were never caught. The most successful escape was when Oscar Schindler got 300 women out of Auschwitz. Oscar pretended to be one of the people in charge of the camp. Before the freight car full of people got to the camp, he told them to send them back. When they got back, he took them to a safe house and looked after them. The concentration camps were all shut down on May 7, 1945 when World War Two ended.It was estimated that 7,991,460 people lost their lives in the concentration camps. When the Germans were defeated by the allies they were forced to close down all of the concentration camps. Most of the camps were destroyed. Some of the camps were used as prisons for the Nazis. Some of these concentration camps have been converted into museums and memorials for those who lost their lives. Bibliography 1. Nazi concentration camps Jan 14-17 2011 http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Nazi_concent ration_camps 2. Auschwitz, Nazi death camp Jan 14-17 2011 http://www. auschwitz. dk/auschwitz. htm

Precambrian - The Timeline of Biological History

The Precambrian (4500 to 543 million years ago) is a vast period of time, nearly 4,000 million years long, that began with the formation of the Earth and culminated with the Cambrian Explosion. The Precambrian accounts for seven-eighths of our planets history. Numerous important milestones in the development of our planet and the evolution of life occurred during the Precambrian. The first life arose during the Precambrian. The tectonic plates formed and began shifting across the surface of the Earth. Eukaryotic cells evolved and the oxygen these eary organisms exhaled collected in the atmosphere. The Precambrian drew to a close just as the first multicellular organisms evolved. For the most part, considering the immense length of time encompassed by the Precambrian, the fossil record is sparse for that time period. The oldest evidence of life is encased in rocks from islands off of western Greenland. Theses fossils are 3.8 billion years old. Bacteria that is more than 3.46 billion years old was discovered in Western Australia. Stromatolite fossils have been discovered that date back 2,700 million years. The most detailed fossils from the Precambrian are known as the Ediacara biota, an assortment of tubular and frond-shaped creatures that lived between 635 and 543 million years ago. The Ediacara fossils represent the earliest known evidence of multicellular life and most of these ancient organisms appear to have vanished at the end of the Precambrian. Although the term Precambrian is somewhat outdated, it is still widely used. Modern terminology disposes of the term Precambrian and instead divides the time before the Cambrian Period into three units, the Hadean (4,500 - 3,800 million years ago), the Archean (3,800 - 2,500 million years ago), and the Proterozoic (2,500 - 543 million years ago).