The Sign of Four and Cawelti: social prominence and the classical detective story

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the classical detective story thrived. Also during these centuries the middle class rose to social prominence. There are many classes of people in our world. While the upper class receives all the luxuries and the lower class receives all the attention, the middle class holds the majority of the people and had the biggest voice in society. Society rises and falls with the middle class. In Sir …

…personal lives, but mostly more opportunities to better themselves. We have seen through Cawelti's "The formula of the Classical Detective Story" and through Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of Four that the social status of the middle class people is evident in detective stories. Also looking back in history we find that while the Detective stories thrived, the middle class citizens became more aware of their selves, becoming more prosperous and attaining social prominence.