Borderlands

Throughout Michael Dibdin’s piece “The Last Sherlock Holmes Story”, the author frequently portrays the concept of borderlands to elucidate important themes and events in the story. The importance of this concept is crucial in defining what makes the story so complex and yet almost explicit at the same time. Essentially the concept of borderlands conveys the idea of dualism, metaphorically, symbolically, and intrinsically. Sherlock Holmes in himself is already a complex entity which symbolically reveals dualism quite well in his alternate role as Professor Moriarty. This insight reveals the contrast between good and evil, and the borderland in many ways tests the bounds of morality to constitute what is right or just and what is considered