The Lost World
&
A Study in Scarlet
Arthur Conan Doyle Biography
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Born in Edinburgh, Scotland on May 22, 1859
Quit Jesuit Preparatory school in 1875
Attended university in Edinburgh from 1876 to 1881
before graduating with a degree in medicine
Moved to SouthSea where he wrote the famous, A
Study in Scarlet
Married Louise Hawkins in 1885
5 years later, he moved to Vienna to study the eye and
later become an oculist
Biography Continued...
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Decided Holmes was distracting him from “better things”
and wrote his last Sherlock Holmes story in Switzerland
Louise fell victim to tuberculosis and the couple moved
to Cairo, Egypt in 1895
Returned to England in 1899
Enlisted in the military before serving a hospital in Cape
Town, South Africa in 1900
Remarried in 1907 after Louise’s death to Jean Leckie
Biography Continued...
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Journeys to Windlesham, England
Writes The Lost World in inspiration of his time in South
Africa
Became a private when the first world war started in
1914
Replaces his belief of agnosticism with spiritualism and
travels the world promoting his beliefs
Suffers from a heart attack and passes away 7 months
later in 1930
The Lost World Summary
Our narrator, Edward Malone, confesses his love to a girl named Gladys. She
remarks that she’s only interested in men who have attained fame. At that,
Malone, a newspaper journalist, visits his boss and asks for the most
challenging task. He must interview Professor Challenger of his discoveries
in South America. Malone does so and after a fight, he is respectably invited
to a scientific convention. Challenger speaks of what he has seen and
demands for someone to accompany him to South America and prove his
facts. Skeptical Professor Summerlee, hunter Lord John Roxton, and
Malone volunteer. The group gather their supplies, travel to the continent,
and recruit two half-breeds as well as a man named Zambo. They follow
chalk arrows previous explorer, Maple White, had left behind before he
died. They scale the side of the cliff and knock over a tree to the plateau
containing Jurassic life.
Summary Continued...
The group set up camp and go exploring, witnessing Jurassic dinosaurs and
discovering life thought to be extinct. After returning, that night, Malone ventures
off by himself and escapes once again back to camp from an Allosaurus. Upon
returning, he discovers the camp has been destroyed and coincidentally runs
into Roxton who tells him that they’d been captured by ape men. The duo
rescue their captive teammates and take refuge with a neighboring indian tribe
called the Acalla. The Acalla and the group team up to defeat the ape-men and
the Acalla leader gives them a map, leading them off the plateau they thought
they were trapped on. Challenger returns to the convention and reveals a baby
pterodactyl he’d captured during his adventure. However the dinosaur escapes
and makes headlines. Malone discovers that Gladys had married a clerk and
drops her completely. Roxton then reveals he had found diamonds in a blue
clay substance on the plateau. He shares his prize with the rest of the group
and asks what each man will do with his money to which Malone declares, he
will go on another adventure with Roxton.
A Study in Scarlet Summary
Dr. John Watson is discharged from Afghanistan due to an injury, so to give
himself time to recover, he moves to England for awhile. He coincidentally
runs into an old war friend and discovers that an acquaintance named
Sherlock Holmes is looking for a roommate. Watson, also looking for a
cheaper place, meets with him and the two end up getting an apartment on
Baker Street. Detectives Gregson and Lestrade seek Holmes's help in a
recent murder. Holmes accepts and he and Watson go to investigate. He
learns a great deal just by observing the scene. During the investigation,
Holmes discovers a lost wedding ring. Later, he places an ad for the ring in
the newspaper in Watson’s name. An old woman shows up to retrieve it and
Holmes gives her a duplicate. After she leaves, Holmes tails her and she
turns out to be a young man in disguise. He escapes. Gregson then visits
Holmes claiming he has the murderer in custody.
Summary Continued...
Gregson explains that while staying at a hotel, the murdered victim Drebber,
drunkenly kissed a girl named Alice, prompting her brother to kill him. Moments
later, Lestrade enters with news of Drebber’s secretary, Stangerson, found dead
in his apartment, thus proving Gregson wrong. Holmes calls for his cab driver to
aid him with his luggage and the moment he appears, Holmes handcuffs him
and introduces the murderer as Jefferson Hope. It is revealed that Hope had
killed both these men due to revenge. A man named John Ferrier and his
adopted daughter Lucy were traveling through the barrens of Utah, starving,
when a group of mormons saved them. However, years later, they forced their
faith on the two and gave Lucy 1 month to either marry Drebber or Stangerson
when she was in love with Hope. As a result, the trio fled but the mormons
caught up and killed John as well as retrieved Lucy. She died of a broken heart.
Hope then decided to enact his revenge on both men since it was their fault the
two died. After Hope tells his story, he dies in jail from an ongoing aneurysm.
Literary Devices
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Characterization - “Refers to the techniques writers use to develop
characters.”
Conflict - “A struggle between opposing forces that is a basis for a story's
plot.”
Mood - “The feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for a reader.”
Metaphors - “A figure of speech that compares two things that have
something in common.”
Similes - “A figure of speech that compares two things that have
something in common, using a word such as like or as.”
Theme - “An underlying message that a writer wants the reader to
understand.”
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The Lost World Devices
Characterization
“His head was enormous, the largest I have ever seen upon a human being. I am sure his top hat,
had I ventured to don it, would have slipped over me entirely and rested on my shoulders.” (Pg 14,
The Lost World)
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Conflict
“We had been natives of the world; now we were natives of the plateau.” (Pg 84, The Lost World)
-Describes the severed connection from the present as well as gives the group a new goal- get off
the plateau.
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Mood
“Every great discoverer has been met with the same incredulity- the sure brand of a generation of
fools. When great facts are laid before you, you have not the intuition, the imagination which
would help you to understand them. You can only throw mud at the men who have risked their
lives to open new fields to science. You persecute the prophets! Galileo, Darwin, and I-” (Pg 38,
The Lost World)
-Imbued with power and inspirational
A Study in Scarlet Devices
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Characterization
“In height he was rather over six feet, and so excessively lean that he seemed to be considerably
taller. His eyes were sharp and piercing, save for those intervals of torpor to which I have alluded;
and his thin, hawk-like nose gave his whole expression an air of alertness and decision.” (Pg 12,
A Study in Scarlet)
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Conflict
“She shall have a month to choose. At the end of that time she shall give her answer.” (Pg 72, A
Study in Scarlet)
-Refuses to let his daughter, who is in love with Jefferson Hope, be forced into marriage
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Mood
“The inscription upon the paper was brief, but to the point:
John Ferrier, Formerly of Salt Lake City, Died August 4th, 1860.” (Pg 84, A Study in Scarlet)
-Sets the mood to shock- Plot twist
Other Works
1. The Hound of the Baskervilles
2. The Sign of the Four
3. The Return of Sherlock Holmes
4. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
5. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
The Lost World Review
Out of the two books I had chosen to read for my final, The Lost World was the one I thought I
would end up liking the most. Never have I been so wrong. You see, I thought I would like this
book more than A Study in Scarlet because it was extremely similar to Jurassic Park, and I never
really cared for mystery stories too much anyways. However, quite the opposite happened. I loved
A Study in Scarlet, and struggled to finish The Lost World. I will admit, there were a few times
where that little devil resting on my shoulder whispered into my ear, “Sparknote it.” Although as
much as I wanted to give in to the temptation, I refused to cave and surprisingly finished the book
on somewhat of a good note.
Review Continued...
It is not that the book was bad, it is just that for the first ten or so chapters the story crawls at an extremely slow
pace. I can understand that the beginning needed to set the structural foundation for the rest of the book, but you
would think that at least after chapter five of a hundred-some page book, it would start to kick up. The characters
travel through the Amazon of South America in search of Jurassic life. That sounds cool, right? Nope. Nothing
exciting happens on their way to the plateau. Then when the group finally does reach the plateau, you would think
the action would finally kick up there, right? Wrong again. They boringly explore said plateau before, thankfully,
there is a small sliver of action as the book cycles to a painstaking end.
But aside from the slow build-up to that brief moment of exhilaration, the book was well written. I was simply
unhappy with the story itself. The only part I really liked was after the ape-men raided the group’s camp. So I
honestly do not think I would recommend this book to anyone. In conclusion, as much as it pains me to criticize an
author capable of greater work, I think Doyle should stick to Sherlock Holmes.
A Study in Scarlet Review...
As mentioned before, I thought I would enjoy The Lost World much more than A Study in Scarlet because dinosaurs sounded
more interesting than a mystery. Especially after how I first started A Study in Scarlet. I could not get past the first page. But
after painfully dragging myself to the end of The Lost World it was this book’s turn to shine. Deep down, I knew it was going
to be good, because it is the very first Sherlock Holmes book, but I never expected myself to be incapable of pulling myself
away. It is one of those stories that hooks you and reels you in to the very end.
Where do I begin? Well, for starters, let me just say how interesting Holmes is. He is a deductive, violin playing, cocaine
addict. His personality is extremely appealing. It amazes me how little he concerns himself with other subjects and dedicates
himself solely to topics which only concern his profession. He knows nothing about the solar system but can tell you a man’s
shoe size, where they were, how they walk, and their height just from a single footprint. Not only was Holmes captivating, but
what had me flipping through the pages were the plot twists. There are plot twists expertly woven throughout the story that
catches you completely off guard, and the fact that Holmes is so secretive of his knowledge builds tension not only for the
readers, but for the characters in the story as well.
Review Continued...
I loved this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a good read, even if
mysteries are not your cup of tea. I can already tell you that I will most likely read the other
Sherlock Holmes books after breezing through A Study in Scarlet. In comparison to The Lost
World, I think this is where Doyle truly shines, and he knew it, because after this book’s success,
there were plenty more thrillers to follow. Just when you think you have the mystery solved, Doyle
will throw a curveball that will leave your head spinning and your fingers itching to find the next
page. A Study in Scarlet is a fantastic book and I do not regret choosing it.
Works Cited
Doyle, Arthur Conan. A Study in Scarlet. London: Aziloth, 2010. Print.
Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Lost World. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1998. Print.
“Characterization.” Holt McDougal Literature Grade 12. Orlando: Houghton Miffin
Harcourt Publishing Company, 2012. Print. Glossary of Literature and Nonfiction Terms.
Characterization. R107
“Conflict.” Holt McDougal Literature Grade 12. Orlando: Houghton Miffin Harcourt
Publishing Company, 2012. Print. Glossary of Literature and Nonfiction Terms. Conflict.
R107
“Mood.” Holt McDougal Literature Grade 12. Orlando: Houghton Miffin Harcourt
Publishing Company, 2012. Print. Glossary of Literature and Nonfiction Terms. Mood.
R115
“Metaphors.” Holt McDougal Literature Grade 12. Orlando: Houghton Miffin Harcourt
Publishing Company, 2012. Print. Glossary of Literature and Nonfiction Terms. Metaphors.
R114
“Similes.” Holt McDougal Literature Grade 12. Orlando: Houghton Miffin Harcourt
Publishing Company, 2012. Print. Glossary of Literature and Nonfiction Terms. Similes.
R120
“Theme.” Holt McDougal Literature Grade 12. Orlando: Houghton Miffin Harcourt
Publishing Company, 2012. Print. Glossary of Literature and Nonfiction Terms. Theme.