The Inescapability of Sherlock Holmes and Grizzly Bears

After finishing “The Final Problem,” I googled the story and read through its Wikipedia page. I discovered that the author, Conan Doyle, wrote this story in an effort to rid himself of the character of Sherlock Holmes. Doyle found that the character and his stories were distracting Doyle from greater and more important work.  He wrote to his mother, “I must save my mind for better things, even if it means burying my pocketbook with it.” Despite this desire to be finished with the famous detective, Doyle ended up reviving Holmes due to pressure from fans.

Doyle’s relationship with Holmes reminds me of Timothy Treadwell’s relationship with the bears. Writing about Holmes was unavoidable for Doyle, in the same way studying grizzly bears was for Treadwell. Neither man could remove himself completely from his obsession. Although Treadwell was not open about a desire to stop studying grizzlies in the way Doyle was open about his desire to stop writing about Sherlock Holmes, I think Timothy’s studying of the bears was inevitable. Treadwell used his trips to Alaska as a means by which to find purpose in life and escape his demons. As soon as he stopped studying his bears, his demons would have likely returned from their dormant state. Sarah Jillings talked about finding our passions in class on Friday and often people’s passions bring only pleasure and happiness, but I think that is not always the case. Writing about Holmes and studying the bears were Doyle’s and Treadwell’s passions respectively and those activities brought both men a world of positive and negative emotions.