The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde~Kurt Blankenheim~Blog 1

 Kurt Blankenheim
   
 Ms. Nielsen
   
 English 9 (1)
   
18 April 2012

©        ®    ™
   
        Hola! Kurt Blankenheim here again but not to blog about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight this time its a classic. I'm reading The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I have just started to read this novel today. The author of this book is Louis Stevenson. So far what has been introduced in the story is the setting is in London, England. This book was written in 1885 and is starting off very mysterious! I never know what is going to happen next. It is all a big mystery. I'm pretty sure some murder case will come up in the future because of the title.......it has the word case in it. I don't know for sure but there are plenty of things that are foreshadowing what might come.  Since I'm only four chapters into the book, I still don't know too much.
        The protagonist  is Henry Jekyll. He is a doctor, and everyone enjoys him. He likes to do many experiments. There's also Mr. Utterson who is a strong lawyer. Then there's Mr. Edward who is a very weird man who is always mean and violent. Based on knowing that about this character I have a feeling that he might be a "murderer." There's Mr. Enfield who is the cousin of Mr. Utterson. Then lastly there is Dr. Lanyon who is also another doctor. She used to be one of Jekyll's best friends but has become an antagonist because of jealousy. So with Mr. Hyde's violence, he has been acting up upon the citizens of the town. So Mr. Utterson wanted to report this and get help from Dr. Lanyon. However, She has practically no idea even who this man is. But Dr. Jekyll knows lots about him. That's why Mr. Utterson tried to ask Dr. Lanyon about Hyde, because her and Jekyll used to be best friends. He assumed they still got along good, however, he didn't realize they had become rivals. So Mr. Utterson just decides from that point to go talk with Mr. Hyde himself. So he finds him walking on the street, so he introduces himself to Hyde, who has a very messed up face! Hyde warns him about Death coming to get Dr. Jekyll. This made no since, why and how would he know that Dr. Jekyll will soon be murdered? Is  Hyde going to kill him?
So at this point when Mr. Utterson is totally dumbfounded, he immediately races to Dr. Jekyll's lab to have a talk. However, all of his doors are locked. He doesn't know if he is getting death threats from Hyde or if he's gone and out of his house. So he begs Mr. Poole, (his butler of the house) to let him in. Mr Poole has the keys to every door in the lab and the house. However, Poole doesn't let him in.
      Then a couple of weeks later Dr. Jekyll decides to throw a huge dinner party. With Mr. Utterson, who still hasn't talked to Jekyll yet about the possible murder, he NEEDS to go to this party. However, the party goes very late, but Mr. Utterson still had to stay because he wanted to talk with Jekyll in private. So, when he does finally get to talk with him, he takes it as a joke and starts laughing. But when Mr. Utterson told Dr. Jekyll about what Hyde has been saying, he immediately turns pale, and can't believe what he just heard! At first he was totally freaked out by it, but he remained calm and told Mr. Utterson thanks for telling me but I will let it fly by me. He says I will not worry about it and continue to do my job without worrying. This shows that Jekyll is a very brave and strong man.

       So later in the year......yes a murder does take place! The only witness was this maid working at a house and saw just a little of what was going on. She couldn't tell for sure because is was about two o'clock in the morning. That's why she was the only witness she had to do her job as a maid at night while the people of that house were sleeping. She thinks she just might know who the man is. She describes him as being "evil, aged, small, and aggressive." She soon realizes that it is most likely Mr. Hyde. She knows him by seeing him from around town before and says that it was him! However, she has no clue who the victim was. So the police come, and they identify the body as Sir Danvers Carew, who is a member of the England Parliament. they also find a letter that says "To Mr. Utterson." But when Mr. Utterson arrives at the scene he is filled with shock. He doesn't understand why he would murder a man of the parliament when Hyde told him it was going to be Dr. Jekyll. He still is surprised! The police then talk with the maid about it probably being Mr. Hyde as the murderer. So the police then decide to visit Mr. Hyde's house. Mr. Hyde acts like he has no idea what has been going on. The only sign of him possibly being a murderer that the police found was a murder-weapon in his checkbook. So  with so little evidence the police know where his bank account is, so they assume that if he is the murderer he will have to go to the bank soon, because that's where he left his weapon, in his checkbook.  However, in the next weeks, even months, he never did go to the bank. So it still remains as a mystery.
       So yes I do like this book so far. It is a really cool mystery and very mysterious. It will be interesting to see what happens next! It is a very interesting story! I think that Mr. Hyde will probably end up being the murderer. I think the author wrote this book to teach readers more about crime scenes and how to solve them. I think that he wanted to inspire the readers of the book to become like involved with crime scenes when they get older. I think the best character I like is Dr. Jekyll because of the relationship between him and Dr. Lanyon. It is still a huge mystery because of their recent arguments. I'm still wondering about him and what is going to be his role in the book. He hasn't done much yet, but everyone is talking about him so he must become important at some point. I hope he will help solve the crime or do something heroic! At the beginning he didn't say much or talk with anyone besides Dr. Lanyon, but he now has already changed by not being friends with Dr. Lanyon and starting to talk with Mr. Utterson more. There might be a good relationship. That's probably also why the author wrote this book to teach kids to have more friends. That's the biggest theme so far is trying to make friends and keep them.
         When reading the book, I felt like I still needed to know more about Mr. Hyde. So I went back to reread to see what he was like. I thought it was important to reread so I could fully understand who the possible murderer is. I mostly forgot what he looked like, so I found this awesome quote that describes all about him: “He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn’t specify the point. He’s an extraordinary-looking man, and yet I really can name nothing out of the way. No, sir; I can make no hand of it; I can’t describe him. And it’s not want of memory; for I declare I can see him this moment.”  
This quote was said by Mr. Enfield who saw him one night out his window. This now gave me a way better understanding of this man and why he might look like an assassin. I think that based on that quote that makes him very creepy and scary! I hope that gives you a better understanding of who the possible murderer could be. A few questions I would still have about this novel so far would be one who is the murderer? Another is why would someone want to kill a man of the Parliament? Then when is Dr. Jekyll going to get more involved in the story? I hope all of these questions get answered soon so I get to know more about the book! This book just keeps getting better and better! I'm now going to go back and start reading again until next time..............
                                                                                                         ~posted via Blackberry