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The Valley of Fear Themes

The document discusses several themes in The Valley of Fear including fear, torture, mystery, violence, deception, authority, power, and observation. Fear is a central theme as Douglas finds himself trapped in the "valley of fear". The scowrers instill terror and have killed many innocents. Mysteries include the owner of Brilstone Manor and the identity of the undercover Pinkerton agent. Violence is depicted through the beating of James Stanger. Deception is shown through Birdy Edwards pretending to be McMurdo and Captain Marvin hiding his true identity. Authority and power take different forms between characters like McGinty and Sherlock Holmes. Observation is encouraged as an important theme for readers to carefully examine

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Zainab Jawad
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2K views2 pages

The Valley of Fear Themes

The document discusses several themes in The Valley of Fear including fear, torture, mystery, violence, deception, authority, power, and observation. Fear is a central theme as Douglas finds himself trapped in the "valley of fear". The scowrers instill terror and have killed many innocents. Mysteries include the owner of Brilstone Manor and the identity of the undercover Pinkerton agent. Violence is depicted through the beating of James Stanger. Deception is shown through Birdy Edwards pretending to be McMurdo and Captain Marvin hiding his true identity. Authority and power take different forms between characters like McGinty and Sherlock Holmes. Observation is encouraged as an important theme for readers to carefully examine

Uploaded by

Zainab Jawad
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Valley of Fear

Themes
The Valley of Fear has plenty of Themes.
For Example:
Themes Examples
Horror/Fear/Terror The title of the play script suggests how much fear plays
a role in the events depicted within the script.
For example, Douglas finds himself stuck in the valley of
fear with no means of escape.
Or how much terror the scowrers have caused to the
people of the Varmissa valley.
Torture/Bloodshed/Death The scowrers have killed several innocent people. For
example:
Milman, old Mr. Hyam, little Billy James, Jim Caraway,
Simon larbey, and many others.

Mystery The biggest mystery in the novel is the missing owner of


the old building Brilstone Manor. Mr. Douglas has been
murdered.
The other Mystery is who is the Pinkerton undercover
agent.
Violence I think that the biggest violent act in the play script
Valley of Fear is the beating of James Stanger. An
innocent publisher and writer.
Deception Deception means to deceive someone and the two
biggest examples are;
How Birdy Edwards deceived every scowrers into
thinking that he is McMurdo
Or how captain Marvin acted the opposite of his
personality and no one could guess that he is the real
McMurdo.
Authority Power or Right to give someone orders such as the
magistrate, captain Marvin, Sherlock Holmes, and
McGinty.
Power Power manifests itself in many ways in the text. The type
of power Sherlock Holmes possesses is ideal. Traditional
The Valley of Fear
Themes
law enforcement is useful but limited, and power based
on violence and terror is ultimately doomed to fail.
For example:
The power that McGinty holds is dangerous as he can
hide all claims and shreds of evidence within a second.
Observation One of the most important themes of the novel is
observation, which is what readers are encouraged to
practice along with Holmes. Doyle sets out the
particulars of the case without sparing any details to
prompt his readers to think about what they see and try
to form connections.
For example: When Douglas is murdered Holmes
observes to find every detail.

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