Enola Holmes · 2020 — Chapter 1 of 12 · 9'40" · C1
Enola Confronts Her Brothers, Explained: one's own company
Enola refuses to be managed by her brothers. She tells them she needs no friends because she has her own company, and throws the accusation back at them: "You are judging something for which you took no responsibility." What sounds like defiance is really her claim to a life of her own.
What happens
At the Holmes family home, Enola faces her brothers Mycroft and Sherlock. Mycroft wants to send her away to be remade into a proper young lady — "We need to break her and build her up" — while Enola insists she is happy as she is and does not need their plans or their friends.
Listen for
foul playone's own companybuild someone updwindle to nothing
00:00 / 09:40Space play · ← → lines · R repeat
Now
Phrase of the scene
one's own company
being comfortable and content when alone
伊诺拉对哈里森小姐说自己不需要朋友，言下之意是一个人待着她也过得很好。
She enjoys her own company on long walks.
Also in this scene
- foul play
evidence that a crime or violence caused something
- build someone up
to encourage or rebuild someone
- dwindle to nothing
to shrink gradually until almost nothing is left
Everything marked in this scene
28 notes across 129 lines
to shrink gradually until almost nothing is left
weak form
inverted rhetorical question
liaison
causative with past participle
liaison
so ... that result clause
Enola Confronts Her Brothers, explained
What's really going on
This is a fight about who gets to define Enola. Mycroft talks about her as a problem to be fixed, announcing, "We need to break her and build her up." Enola answers with a line that sounds simple but is quietly defiant: "I don't need friends. I have my own company." She is not asking to be understood; she is refusing the terms of the argument. Then she turns their judgment back on them, insisting, "You are judging something for which you took no responsibility". Her brothers have authority and money on their side, but she has the one thing they cannot take away — her certainty about who she is. She ends with a rebuke: "And if you still can't see that, then shame on you both." The scene sets up the choice she keeps making: fit the role expected of a young lady, or keep her own mind.
Theme
IdentityEnola insists on defining herself instead of letting her brothers reshape her into a proper lady.
Family conflictShe confronts Mycroft and Sherlock over their right to judge and control her life.
What you'll learn
- 'foul play' carries more than its dictionary gloss.
- 'have one's wits about one' changes the pressure of the reply.
- The surrounding lines set the social temperature.
Listen for
- have to use — weak form
- catch an eye — liaison
- out of my hands — liaison
And if you still can t see that then shame on you bothHer closing rebuke to her brothers: if they still cannot understand her choices, the fault is theirs as much as anyone's.
I don t need friends I have my own companyHer self-definition: she is not lonely, she is content on her own and does not need friends to feel complete.
Let me remain happy I am happy hereA plea to be left as she is: she is happy with her life and asks not to be changed by other people's plans.
You are judging something for which you took no responsibilityHer accusation that the brothers are condemning a life they never helped to raise or understand.
Questions about this scene
Why does Mycroft want to change Enola?
He thinks she has been raised wild and needs to be shaped into a proper young lady. As he puts it, they need to break her and build her up so she can take her place in society.
Why does Enola say she has her own company?
She is answering the idea that she must be fixed or pitied. She is telling her brothers that she is not lonely — she is content with her own thoughts and does not need friends to feel complete.
Why does Enola accuse her brothers of taking no responsibility?
They left her to be raised at home and now judge how she turned out. Her point is that they are condemning a life they never helped to raise.
Does Enola really not want any friends?
It is more defiance than a rule for life. She is rejecting the friends and plans other people choose for her, not closing the door on every friendship.
Enola Holmes · 12 chapters
All chapters →
Up next · Chapter 2unpickEnola Decodes Her Mother's Message
Watching · Chapter 1one's own companyEnola Confronts Her Brothers
Chapter 2unpickEnola Decodes Her Mother's Message
Chapter 3leave someone strandedEnola Hides on the Train
Chapter 4the game is afootSherlock and Mycroft Argue Over Enola
Chapter 5prepare the groundEnola Bluffs Her Way Into Basilwether
Chapter 6for better or worseA Talk of Power Over Tea
Chapter 7lead someone astrayEnola Meets the Dowager
Chapter 8do funny things to someoneTewkesbury Finds Enola's Hideout
Chapter 9fend for oneselfEnola at Miss Harrison's School
Chapter 10pick my brainsSherlock Visits Enola
Chapter 11see right through someoneEnola Sneaks into the Finishing School
Chapter 12right a wrongEnola and Tewkesbury Flee the SchoolChapter 1 of 12 · about 41 min to go