Sherlock Lite?

In my reading of The Final Solution I couldn't help but compare it to the Sherlock Holmes story that we read earlier. Chabon even says himself in the interview section of the book that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was the first writer that he really fell in love with. It surprises me then that Chabon doesn't really create a worthy protagonist to challenge the old man. In the final chapter of the Sherlock Holmes stories that we read, Sherlock battles a genius of equal merit in Moriarity. I recognize that Holmes did not have an equal in all of his capers, but it still seems strange to me that Chabon would not include a worthy adversary for the old man.

It is interesting to note as well that Kalb is not even really thwarted by the old man. His plans are actually foiled by the very parrot that he kidnapped. This fits in with the themes that we have been investigating so far this semester in the purpose of pointless things. It is important then to consider why Chabon would decide to give the numbers in the parrot's head absolutely no importance at the end of the book.

Upon further reflection, I decided that Kalb may not actually be the adversary at all. In fact, I see the adversaries to the old man as the parrot and the boy. They both flummox the old man. Through the bird's constant repetition of numbers, and the boy hiding his ability to speak, the two act as a very clever opposition to the old man's investigation. There may not be any danger of death as there was with Moriarity, but the bird and the boy still have the last laugh. They reveal the pointlessness of their little numbers game, and show readers that they have really just been conning everyone this whole time, and they don't even face any consequences for it.