Posted by Ed Kiser on January 24, 2005 at 20:38:39 from 205.188.116.6 user Kisered.
In Reply to: Re: Questioning another detail posted by Peter H on January 23, 2005 at 19:51:34:
Peggy herself, after they managed to figure it all out, realized that Nancy would be a bit surprised to know just how long it took for this bunch to figure out her message, so it seems that they were a bit embarrassed that it did take that much digging to get its meaning.
However, there is a purpose back of this apparent slowness. The author has presented the reader with the message, knowing that we are eager to figure it out. The characters must be delayed in their process in order to give the reader time to come up with his own solution, and feel "Ah HAH! I figured it out before they did!" Let the reader participate by solving the puzzle first. If the answer was quite obvious to the characters, they simply would have presented the translation, but that would have denied to the reader his moment of satisfaction of being able to dope it out for himself. Their delay just gave the reader time to have his little moment of success.
Don't look at this as some sort of inconsistant failure on the part of these characters, but merely the author's ability to make us a part of the adventure.
This whole episode reminds me of the Sherlock Holmes story about "The Dancing Men" which had its own code, not semaphore.
Ed Kiser, South Florida