The Adventure of the Speckled Band

​The Adventure of the Speckled Band

​Reading: Recognize Details that Indicate Author's Purpose

The author’s purpose is his or her reason for writing. Learn to recognize details that indicate the author’s purpose. The author’s purpose and the types of details in the work affect the way you read the work. Look for these types of details:

•To inform, an author might use facts and technical language. Pause frequently to check your understanding, and take notes from material written to inform you.

•To persuade, an author might include reasons that lead readers to agree with an opinion. With this kind of writing, question the author’s statements and check facts.

•To entertain, an author might provide details that amuse, intrigue, horrify, or fascinate readers. With such material, pay attention to descriptions—especially, to images that appeal to the senses.

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​Reading: Recognize Details that Indicate Author's Purpose

Frequently, the author has both a general purpose and a specific purpose in mind. In “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” Doyle’s general purpose is to entertain you with a mystery. As Doyle tells the story, he provides details that entertain in a particular way—for

instance, by puzzling you or frightening you, as in the following description of Helen Stoner.

She raised her veil as she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable state of

agitation, her face all drawn and gray, with restless, frightened eyes, like those of some

hunted animal.

Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Multiple Select

A series of disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the police court, until at last he became the terror of the village, and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger.

• To frighten reader

• To make readers curious

• To give readers a sense of relief

Multiple Choice

The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same relative position to

the ventilator and to the rope—or so we may call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull.

• To frighten reader

• To make readers curious

• To give readers a sense of relief

Multiple Choice

He had ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when suddenly there

broke from the silence of the night the most horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled in the one dreadful shriek.

• To frighten reader

• To make readers curious

• To give readers a sense of relief

Multiple Choice

“It means that it is all over,” Holmes answered. “And perhaps, after all, it is for the

best. Take your pistol, and we will enter Dr. Roylott’s room.”

• To frighten reader

• To make readers curious

• To give readers a sense of relief

​Literary Analysis: Mood

Mood, or atmosphere, is the overall feeling that a literary work or passage creates for the reader. The mood of a work might be somber, joyful, sentimental, and so on. A variety of elements contributes to the mood of a work.

• Words, such as gloomy, and images, such as “the wind was... splashing against the windows”

• Setting, such as “the windows were broken and blocked with wooden boards”

• Events, such as “our door had been suddenly dashed open”

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Subject | Subject

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​Literary Analysis: Mood

A writer chooses words carefully in order to create a particular mood. As you read the following passage from “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” notice how the underlined words help create a mood of terror.

There was something else which she would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the air in the direction of the doctor’s room, but a fresh convulsion seized her and choked her words.

Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Open Ended

Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last night, as I lay awake, thinking over her

terrible fate, I suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which had

been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the lamp, but nothing was to

be seen in the room. I was too shaken to go to bed again. . . .

Open Ended

A large face, seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and

marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other of us, while his

deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the

resemblance to a fierce old bird of prey.

Open Ended

How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a sound, not even the

drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness.

Multiple Choice

In “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” what makes Helen Stoner seek help from Sherlock Holmes?

• Her father has been murdered, and his money is missing.

• Her mother is missing, and her stepfather does not seem upset.

• Her sister was murdered, and Helen fears for her own safety.

• Her stepfather has threatened to kill her mother.

Multiple Choice

In the mystery by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, what is the speckled band?

• a poisoned necklace

• a scarf used to strangle Helen’s sister

• a bracelet identifying the murderer

• a snake

Multiple Choice

In “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” Holmes tells Helen Stoner how she got to his office. How does he know how she traveled?

• He followed Helen after she left her house.

• He has good powers of deduction.

• He listened through the door as she told Watson.

• He made a wild guess.

Multiple Choice

Why does the author or “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” include information about Dr. Roylett’s violent past in India?

• The author wants us to feel sorry for Roylett.

• The author wants us to believe that Helen’s sister died in India.

• The author wants to set up Roylett as a prime suspect.

• The author is trying to mislead us.

Multiple Choice

In “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” what Indian animals does Helen Stoner say are living on the estate?

• a monkey and a baboon

• a baboon and a cheetah

• a cheetah and a tiger

• a tiger and a baboon

Multiple Choice

What mood is created in the following sentence from “The Adventure of the Speckled Band”?

“Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which had been the herald of her own death.”

• fear

• curiosity

• humor

• calm

Multiple Choice

In “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” why does Dr. Roylett need Helen to move to her sister’s former room?

• It is larger and more comfortable.

• It has a better view of the estate grounds.

• It is more secure.

• It is equipped with a bell-rope and ventilator.

Multiple Choice

In “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” when Helen Stoner begins sleeping in her sister’s former bedroom, what sound does she hear?

• a bell tolling

• a cheetah howling

• a whistling noise

• a crying sound

Multiple Choice

In “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” what mood does the author create by having Sherlock Holmes and Watson wait in dark silence in the murdered woman’s bedroom?

• hatred

• tension

• wonder

• sleepiness

Multiple Choice

The author of “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” tells readers that Dr. Roylett likes unusual animals from India. Why does this information turn out to be an important clue in the solution to the murder?

• because the murderer is an animal trainer from India

• because the murder weapon is a rare knife brought from India

• because an animal strangled Julia

• because a poisonous snake from India killed Julia

Match

Match the following

• deductions

• avert

• sinister

judgments about something, based on available information

avoid

threatening harm or evil

• judgments about something, based on available information

• avoid

• threatening harm or evil

Match

Match the following

• tangible

• invaluable

• indiscreetly

actual or real; able to be perceived by the sense

extremely useful

carelessly

• actual or real; able to be perceived by the sense

• extremely useful

• carelessly