Qiwei Fu

Professor Lynda Haas

Writing 39B
4/29/2014
Literary Review: Watson and his Importance
The mystery genre no doubt is one of the most successful genre ever since its
boom during the Victorian era. Thus many convention has been established for the
mystery genre. While many convention makes sense, such as presence of a detective,
crime, unsolved mystery. However, the reason for the presence of a sidekick is not so
apparent. Believe it or not, many scholars have agreed that the presence of a side kick in
mystery genre serve a role so monumental that it cannot be ignored. Not only does the
sidekick most often serve as the eyes and ears of the audience, it has potential to
incorporate many symbolism as well as utilities to the novel that will not be possible
otherwise. I will be using Conan Doyle's novel "The Sign of Four" to explore and
synthesize many scholars point of view on the topic of the sidekick Watson.
First of all, one of the biggest role of Watson in the "Sign of Four" is the fact that
he is the narrator. Watson is the one that serves as the reader's connection to the story.
Binyon, in his book "Murder Will Out", claimed that "the creation of Watson in fact, was a
stroke of genius"(Binyon, 9). Binyon reason his claim by stating that "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 to the story, his own though process and
personality only makes the story more believable. Panik will no doubt agree with Binyon
on the importance of Watson as the narrator. Panik in Doyle claimed 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."(Panik, 80)
One of the purpose mystery genre bring for the reader is that the story serve as a game.
Reader are actively participating in the story. By using Sherlock as narrator, Doyle cannot
hide his train of thoughts from the reader as readily as if he used Watson as a narrator.
Thus, the story is able to keep the game of mystery genre by providing the details of the
mystery to the reader as a normal person would observe. The ignorance of Watson also
does amplify Holmes power making him more god like and appealing to readers. For
example, during the Sign of Four, Watson tried to test Holmes ability with his fathers
Watch and falsely accuse Holmes because he could not follow his deduction, but once he
explains his deduction, Watson replied It is clear as day light, and I should have had
more faith in your marvelous faculty(Doyle, 295). This scene would not have been
possible if Holmes was the narrator. The surprise and game would not be there.
Watsons significance is not irreplaceable only because he is the narrator, but also
because he completes Holmes. Kirby Ferrall in his HEROISM, CULTURE, AND DREAD IN
"THE SIGN OF FOUR" claimed 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 sentiment virtue (Ferrall, 34) and that Watson is very curious
and attached to Holmes because of that. Ferrall also pointed out somewhere later in his
article that Doyle used Holmes and Watson to make a statement about paternalism.
Watson and Miss Morstan become "like two children." Thaddeus acquires "the helpless,
appealing expression of a terrified child." All the while Holmes acts the parent, giving "firm,
crisp" orders (Ferrall, 42) Watson was symbolized as a child and Holmes was the parent.
Thus they complement each other once again. Maria Konnikova might not agree with the
symbolism, but she indeed would agree that Holmes and Watson are a split man. In the
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 which she calls the
Watson System, and the other system deliberative, more thorough, more logical and
calls it the Holmes system(Konnikova, 18). Holmes and Watsons presence completes
each other because they represent the two possible way a brain can process. Watson
system also relates to the readers. We spent most of day mindlessly in the reflexive
system" or the "Watson System, which all we do is react to actions according to
information we already absorbed. We automatically believe what we see and hear and
then question what we see later. However, Sherlocks mindset is quite the opposite of
what Watson system is. You have to question everything before you can actually believe.
This one scene from Sign of Four, Watson saw tiny foot prints at the crime scene and
screamed that a child had done it. He had believe what he had seen before he even
bothered questioning. 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 thus
reached his conclusion.
Lastly, 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 in
Beginnings claims that the new detective story aimed at entertaining what it perceived to
be the middle-class male mind. (Doyle, 9) Thus, Watson is perfect for this role. He is the
ideal English middle class man. The ability of readers to relate to the narrators is very
crucial to the novels success. Binyons observation of the Sherlock stories back up that
idea. 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.(Binyon, 10)
Watsons importance cannot be understated, 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.
There is other shows with sidekicks such as elementary. Remake of Sherlock Holmes from
BBC and Hollywood has immense popularity as well. The popularity of this genre without a
doubt shows just how monumental Watson is.














Binyon, T.J. "Murder Will Out": The Detective in Fiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1989. 9-12. Print.
Konnikova, Maria. Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes. New York: Penguin
Books, 2013
FARRELL, KIRBY. "HEROISM, CULTURE, AND DREAD IN "THE SIGN OF FOUR"" Studies in
Novels (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Panek, Leroy. "Doyle." 1997: n. pag. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Panek, Leroy. "Beginnings." 1997: n. pag. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.