I'm so ready for winter it is not even funny. The heat can go -away-.
221Bcrow
@221bcrow.bsky.social
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Johnlock is ACD Canon. Sherlock Holmes with a splash of salt. Fan of OFMD, Victorian history, and all lgbtq+ Lit. Feed Sherlockian focused, follows other fandoms. #LGBTbooks #savelibraries
![The Whiteness in Scarlet by Jennifer Decker
Some time ago, in the midst of reading Chapter 5 of Study in Scarlet, I noticed for the first time that it seemed to contain a symbolic hidden marriage between -of all people -Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson:
"Look at this advertisement,"[Holmes] answered. "I had one sent to every paper this morning immediately after the affair. [He reads aloud the advertisement concerning the found wedding ring.].. Apply Dr. Watson, 221B, Baker Street, between eight and nine this evening.
"Excuse my using your name," he said. "If I used my own, some of these dunder-heads would recognize it and want to meddle in the affair.
"That is all right,” I answered. “But supposing anyone applies, I have no ring."
“Oh yes you have,” said he, handing me one [a wedding ring]. "This will do well."[my italics]
Holmes is taking Watson's name and giving him a wedding ring. How odd, I reflected; how extremely odd. But in the back of my mind lurked the memory of another metaphorical marriage between two male friends and very soon I recalled what it was. In Moby Dick Ishmael is bonded by marriage to Queequeg the harpooner. This in turn suggested further connections with Melville's massive novel. To begin this investigation we may note that Moby Dick's Chapter 1, “Loomings,” has Ishmael saying:
And, doubtless, my going on this whaling voyage, formed part of the grand programme of Providence that was drawn up a long time ago. It came in as a sort of brief interlude and solo between more extensive performances. I take it that this part of the bill must have run something like this: Grand Contested Election for the Presidency of the United States whaling voyage by one ishmael BLOODY BATTLE IN AFGHANISTAN
Let us look at what Doyle presents in Study:
In the first paragraph, Watson writes, "The regiment was stationed in India at the time, and before I could join it, the second Afghan war had broken out.. I was removed from my brigade and attached to the Berkshire…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:p3mgrlpxao6y5bnfrhe4af5m/bafkreie6x54lktjdd3rt3ft22ece7mjewo2zhp3mjw4qyezrs733mvqxjy)