The+Crooked+Man

Short Stories - Literary Devises Title: The Crooked Man

Point of View: First Person

Protagonist(s): Sherlock Holmes, Watson.

What type of character is the Protagonist? Round, Static

Antagonist(s): Henry Wood, Col. Barclay

Describe the setting Aldershot, England in the late 19th or early 20th century.

Type of Conflict: Man vs. Society

Describe the main conflict: Holmes is trying to figure out how Col. Barclay died.

Describe the Climax of the Story: The climax of the story is when Henry Wood is telling Sherlock Holmes how Col. Barclay died.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? Holmes finds out that Col. Barclay was actually a bad person, and died from a heart attack after seeing a man he thought was dead.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. Col. Barclay, in a sense is a crooked man.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? The theme of the story is dark and mysterious, and the conflict (Holmes trying to figure out how the "murder" happened) illustrates the theme well because it is also dark and mysterious.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? The climax is when Henry Wood tells Holmes what happened. It illustrates the theme by

Give examples of each of the following literary terms in the story (use quotes):

Simile: "His hair and whiskers were shot with gray, and his face was all crinkled and puckered like a withered apple."

Metaphor: "My Biblical knowledge is a trifle rusty"

Personification:  Symbol: "Upon the floor, close to the body, was lying a singular club of hard carved wood with a bone handle" (The club is a symbol for a "red herring", or something that throws people off course).

Foreshadowing (give both elements):

Irony: "There were two men that loved her, and one that she loved, and you'll smile when you look at this poor thing huddled before the fire, and hear me say that it was for my good looks that she loved me." (This is ironic because Henry Wood, once handsome, is now a cripple).

Imagery: "Ah! He has left two nail marks from his boot up upon your linoleum just where the light strikes."

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story.