Learning Paths
“THE
SHERLOCK HOLMES STRATEGY”
HERE
STARTS THE STORY … - STEP 6
This
short story was written by the English novelist Graham Greene (1904-1991),
and is taken from Collected Short Stories, Penguin Books, 1986.
Here is a summary of the story.
THE
BASEMENT ROOM
Philip,
a little boy from a rich family, finds himself alone in his big house when
his parents go away on holiday, with only the butler Baines and Mrs Baines
looking after him. At last he feels free to explore the house and discover
the basement room, where Mr and Mrs Baines live. In contrast to Mrs Baines,
who is bad-tempered and very strict, the butler is fond of Philip and
likes to talk to him.
Later
Philip goes for a walk and finds Baines sitting in a tea-room with a girl.
Baines asks him not to tell Mrs Baines about it, and Philip, willing to
show his friendship to the butler, agrees. However, when Philip comes
home, it is not difficult for Mrs Baines to make him talk and get the
truth out of him.
The
next day Mrs Baines is called away from home and Baines and Philip spend
the whole day happily together in town. In the evening, the girl comes to
the house and has supper with them. Philip is put to bed and soon falls
asleep. He is suddenly woken up by Mrs Baines, who is in a rage and wants
to find out where her husband and the girl are. Although Philip won't tell
her, she soon finds out. In a violent fight with her husband, Mrs Baines
falls from the upper floor into the hall and dies under Philip's eyes.
Philip,
shocked and terrified, runs out of the house and wanders through the town
for hours, until a policeman finds him and takes him home. Baines tries to
make up a story to make his wife's death look like an accident, but by
this time Philip can't hold any more secrets and ends up giving the
policeman enough clues to discover the truth. This terrible incident in
Philip's early years will mark his life forever, haunting his dreams until
his death.
·Does
this summary meet your expectations? Why/Why not?
·Which
clues in the paragraphs you read led you in the right direction? Which
ones didn’t?
·Can
you briefly summarise the general kinds of personal knowledge and
experience that helped you to make your speculations?
·Which
specific bits of personal knowledge and experience were most useful to
you?
·Do
you think the way you proceeded through this task (i.e. this strategy)
is used or can be used in other circumstances or for other purposes,
including learning and teaching?
You’ve used the
“Sherlock Holmes strategy” in a very active way, i.e.
·you’ve
carefully examined clues
·you’ve built
hypotheses using your previous knowledge and experience
·you’ve
justified your hypotheses on the basis of the available evidence
·you’ve tested
your hypotheses against further evidence
·you’ve
consciously monitored all these operations as you went through them
·you’ve
experienced the strategy in practice, but you have also thought
about the way it works, the “rationale” for its use, the
applications it can be put to;
·and, if you’ve
worked with a friend, you’ve verbalised and socialised all this!
If
you would like to see other examples of the “Sherlock Holmes strategy”
at work,
click
here.