Another reason for using Watson as a narrator is that it gives an outsiders perspective of Sherlock Holmes. It shows us how brilliant Holmes must have seemed to the common public. It also adds realism to the stories, as it seems that they were not written by Conan Doyle, but just chronicled by one of his best friends. Also Watson is someone that the reader can relate to, for example if Holmes was the narrator then the audience would not understand how he draws his conclusion, because we only really understand when Holmes explains himself at the end of each case.
Of course there is a down side to having Watson as a narrator. One of these is that we don’t know what Sherlock Holmes is thinking or why he does certain things like tapping the pavement in “The Red-Headed League”. “Having thumped vigorously on the pavement two or three times.” It also means that we don’t know how Holmes’ mind works when he is thinking about a hard case. We don’t see all the pieces coming together; we just see the finished picture.
Another bad thing about having Watson as a narrator is that it makes the
stories predictable. He always has a theory about who committed a crime or how it occurred, and he is always wrong.
He never solves anything, it is always Holmes who comes to the right conclusion. This means that we know what will happen at the end of every story. We know that Holmes will solve his case and there will be satisfactory closure. This is because the stories are written in the style of classic realism, which means that there is always a hero, in our case Holmes, who has a problem, which he or she always surmounts. Also, justice is always seen to been done.
Another reason that the books have remained so popular is the humour that the writer uses in the stories to lighten the mood and relieve the tension. An example of this is in the story of “The Speckled Band” when we are told that Holmes is crawling around on the floor with his magnifying glass. This projects a funny image to the reader and serves to break up the tension, which at the time is very high. Another example of this is “Is to copy out the Encyclopaedia Britannica”. This is the only work Jabez Wilson has to do. It is funny because the task seems so menial.
Another reason that the books have stayed popular is the fun that the audience can have trying to guess who committed the crime in question. There are many literary devices used to maintain this, such as red herrings. An example of this is in the title of one of the stories; “The Speckled Band”. This title gives no clue to what the title is referring to, which is actually a snake, but leads the reader right down a different track. This makes the reader surprised when they find out what the “Speckled Band” really is. It also makes them impressed with the writer and induces them to read more stories.
Another way that Conan Doyle keeps the reader guessing is that he keeps throwing plot twists to confuse them and take them right back to square one. An example of this is in the story of “The Speckled Band” when Holmes thinks that it was gypsies who killed the girl, but we later see that it could not have been them. A series of clues then leads Holmes to the real killer, the girl’s father. This makes the reader want to read on and find out what happens. Another example of this is in the story of “The Man With The Twisted Lip”, when no one would guess that the beggar is really the apparently murdered man’s alter ego. Also readers who had read previous books would know about these things, and look for them.
In conclusion, I would say that there is no single reason for the continued popularity of the stories, but it is a culmination of all the ones mentioned above.
