Qiwei Fu

Professor Lynda Haas

Writing 39B
4/29/2014
Literary Review: Watson and his Importance
The mystery genre has been an immensely successful genre ever since its classical
stage of development in the late Victorian Era. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the most
prominent contributor to the genres popularity, created and established many
convention for the genre with his Sherlock Holmes; the incompetent police force, red
herring, and a hero detective are just a few among the numerous mystery conventions.
Literary scholars have agreed, however, that Conan Doyles most important convention is
the creation of Watson, the sidekick whose purpose is so monumental that it cannot be
overlooked. Not only does the sidekick most often serve as the eyes and ears of the
audience, his/her role as the narrator grants them infinite potential to incorporate many
symbols and themes to the novel that will not be possible otherwise. This essay will utilize
Conan Doyle's novel The Sign of Four to explore and synthesize many scholars
conversation on the importance of the legendary sidekick, Dr. John Watson.
English scholar and crime writer T.J. Binyon, in his book Murder Will Out, claims that
"the creation of Watson in fact, was a stroke of genius"(9). Binyon is referring to Conan
Doyles decision to give Watson, the sidekick, the role of the narrator. "However outr
the events he describes, the fact that they are mediated through his prosaic, stolid
personality gives them a reality and a plausibility which they would otherwise
lack."(Binyon, 10) Not only does Watson serve as the reader's eyes and ears to the story,
his own thought process and personality makes the story more believable. LeRoy Panek,
author of the mystery genre analysis book An Introduction to the Detective Story, agrees
with Binyon on the importance of Watson as the narrator. Panik claims that "Doyle, of
course, realized the uses for plot and characterization of the detective's assistant as the
narrator: the writer can use the narrator's ignorance to hide important facts and through
him can praise the detective and keep him civilly reticent at the same time."(80) One of
the unique property of mystery genre is the readers ability to participate in the storys
game on solving the case. Reader are actively participating in the story. If he had chosen
Sherlock as the narrator, Conan Doyle cannot hide his train of thoughts from the reader as
readily as if he used Watson as a narrator. Thus, the story provides readers with details of
the mystery in Watsons, a commoners, point of view in order to keep the game of
detective story engaging to the readers. Keeping the game with Sherlock as the narrator
would be simply too impractical. George N. Dove, the author of The Reader and the
Detective Story, stress that the pleasure a reader gets from the detective novel is not that
of listening to a story but of watching a magic trick, which the magician immediately
explains.(3) Without Watson, the game would not be present, thus the magic of mystery
novel will be vacant. One key example of the magic is during the Sign of Four, Watson
tried to test Holmes ability with his fathers Watch and falsely accuses Holmes because he
could not follow Holmes deduction, but once Holmes explains his deduction, Watson
replies It is clear as day light, and I should have had more faith in your marvelous
faculty(295). Readers most likely were amazed by Holmes amazing feat and attempted
to figure how just how Sherlock performed the magic, effectively creating the game
that detective stories requires. Without Watson, this would not have been possible.
Not only is Watson significance irreplaceable because he is the narrator, but also
because he completes Holmes. Literary Scholar Kirby Ferral in his journal article Heroism,
Culture, And Dread in The Sign of Four suggest that Watson and Holmes are facets of a
single persona, the split-man, (Ferrall, 34) Ferrall explains that Holmes epitomize
humanity dissected into ratiocinative violence and sentimental virtue (34) Sherlock
Holmes been the ratiocinative violence, and Watson the sentimental virtue, which cause
Watson to be very curious and attached to Holmes due to their differences. In section four
of the article, Ferrall also pointed out that Doyle uses Holmes and Watson as a tool make a
statement about paternalism. Watson and Miss Morstan become like two children all
the while Holmes acts the parent, giving firm, crisp orders (Ferrall, 42) Watson
symbolize a child while Holmes is the parent; thus they complement each other once
again. Author Maria Konnikova, who specializes in psychology and literature, might not
agree with the symbolism, but she indeed agrees that Holmes and Watson are a split
man. In her book How to think like Sherlock Holmes, Konnikova claimed that Holmes
and Watson represent two different ways that the human brain thinks. Konnikova explains
that there is one system of our brain that is fast and intuitive, reactionary (18) which she
calls the Watson System (18), and the other system deliberative, more thorough, more
logical (18) and calls it the Holmes system (18). Holmes and Watsons metaphor
completes each other because they represent the two possible yet opposite way a brain
can process. Watson system also relates to the readers, who spent most of day mindlessly
in the reflexive system" or the "Watson System. Most peoples mind react to actions
according to information we already absorbed, they automatically believe what they see
and hear and then question what they see later. (19) However, Sherlocks mindset is quite
the opposite of what Watson system is. One should question everything before accepting
it as truth. The crime scene from Sign of Four illustrate Holmes and Watsons unique
relationships perfectly. Watson saw tiny foot prints at the crime scene and suggested that
a child had done the horrid thing (838). Watson did not question what he had seen, but
rather just accepts it as truth. However, Sherlock corrected him by showing him that there
is a native that are abnormally small. Sherlock didnt believe it, he questioned it first and
then reached his conclusion. Their reaction at the crime scene fits Konnikovas description
of their mindsets, and their drastically different reaction supports Ferrals claim that they
are a split-man.
Lastly, T.J. Binyon and LeRoy Panek both agree that Watson serves as a way to
reach out to the audience of the story. The Victorian eras technical advances allowed a
new portion of population to read. Doyle claims that the new detective story aimed at
entertaining what it perceived to be the middle-class male mind. (9) Thus, Watson is
perfect for this role. He is the ideal English middle class gentleman, an army doctor with
an average intelligence and ability to love unlike his cold hearted genius partner. The
ability of readers to relate to the narrators is very crucial to the novels success. Keep in
mind that the context of the story is very important to Watson as he would not be an ideal
middle class gentleman in present day. Which explains why BBC Sherlock has updates and
adapted Holmes and Watson to modern characters. Binyons observation of the Sherlock
stories supports that idea that readers ability to relate to Watson is crucial to the novels
success There are only three stories which are not narrated by Watsonone is told in the
third person, the other two by Holmes himselfand all three are found in the last
collection, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927), universally considered the weakest,
not so much for the conception of the stories as for their execution.(10) By taking away
Watson as the narrator, the readers has lost the ability to relate to the book, which
proved to be unsuccessful. Once again call attention to Watsons monumental importance.
Watsons importance cannot be understated; Binyon, Panek, Konnikova, and Dove
all express their mutual agreement on the importance of Watson/sidekick; his role as
narrator, his split-man relationship to Holmes, as well as his appeal to the masses are
what makes him special. His role in the Sherlock stories was so monumental to the genres
development that the convention of a sidekick still exist today. Batman was modeled after
Sherlock, and his sidekick Robin is modeled after Watson. Other popular shows with
sidekicks are Elementary and House. Remake of Sherlock Holmes from BBC and Hollywood
has immense popularity as well. Watsons existence and contribution to the popularity of
this genre without a doubt shows just how impactful Watson really is.













Dove, George N. "The Different Story." The Reader and the Detective Story. Bowling Green:
Bowling Green State U Popular, 197. N. pag. Questia. Web. 4 June 2014.
<http://writing.colostate.edu/files/classes/10388/File_B965B527-F2A2-7F9F-
B8235D1788E604C4.pdf>.
Konnikova, Maria. Mastermind: How to Think like Sherlock Holmes. New York: Penguin, 2013. Print.
Farrell, Kirby. "Heroism, Culture, and Dread in "The Sign of Four"" Studies in Novels 16.1 (1984):
32-51. JSTOR. Web. 4 June 2014. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/29532254>.
Panek, LeRoy L. An Introduction to the Detective Story. Bowling Green: Bowling Green State U
Popular, 1987. Print.
Conan Doyle, Arthur, Sir. The Sign of Four. London: Spencer Blackett, 1890.Amazon. Web. 4 June
2014.