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Jia Sun
Lynda Haas
Writing 39B
April 30, 2014
Exploring the Mystery Genre: Role of Watson
The relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson is widely known by fans of
the mystery genre across timevarious people in different ages, or even eras; however, not
everyoneall the people have has the same interpretation of the feeling towards the mysterious
connection between the exclusive consulting detective and the common doctor. They<who are
they? perhaps a good moment to introduce the scholarslit review show great interest in
finding out what Watson means to Holmes. Some people<who? Good time to mention the
scholars names say Watson is a close friend to Holmes, but they are more than friends. Some
<again, who? say Watson is more like a student to Holmes. In Conan Doyles novel, The Sign of
Four, it can be seen that Watson and Sherlocks conversation takes the majority of the space.
<this is true of all the stories, not just the novel, so calling out the novel here doesnt do much for
you Doyle made Watson as the narrator of Holmes stories since Watson plays a very important
role not only in his relationship with Holmes, but also in each stage of the plot. In addition, the
creation of Watson makes those stories become more attractive and convincing. <theres nothing
in this introduction that lets me know you are about to do a literature review of what the scholars
say about your topic. I am also confused about what your topic is--- is it the role of Watson, as
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your title suggests? Or is it the relationship between SH and JW, as your first sentences suggest?
Either one is fine, but you have to be clear in the intro
Apparently,<this word makes it sound like it might be true might not-- in most of the
Holmes stories, Holmess analysis of his logical deduction is an explanation for answering
Watsons question. <this first sentence, a topic sentence, should be announcing the lit
reviewwhat do the scholars say about your first point (which Im not sure of what it is yet) As
a student, John Watson makes the whole story become more coherent and reasonable. In the
novel,<a novel is a book of fictionit is not used to describe a scholarly book A Introduction to
the Detective Story, Panek Leroy<Leroy Panek points out that Doyle put his memory about his old
professor, Joe Bell, and his own view towards general professors into the character of Holmes. He
first refers to the description of Watson in "Abbey Grange" (Watson listens to Holmes "like an
interested student who observes the demonstration of his professor"); then mentions, he
places considerable stress on the professorial qualities of Holmes on of the secrets of the
character, what we view as endearing grumpiness and delightful perversity in our teachers (85). It
is easily<wrong word form-- easy to ignore that without Watsons questions and mistakes,
Holmes would not have the opportunity to is not necessary to be the teacher who needs to
make those explanation for his deduction. It can also be seen from The Sign of Four, after Holmes
talks about The Distinction between the Ashes of the Various Tobaccos, he asks if Watson feels
bored about listening to his hobby. Watson replies: It is of the greatest interest to me, especially
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since I have had the opportunity of observing your practical application of it (232). Without It can
be imagined that without Watson, the whole paragraph of description of professional analysis will
make the readers feel extremely bored. To some extent, Watson is more like the reader, his
appearance reflects the uniqueness of Holmess intellectual and his questions direct readers to
follow Holmess explanation for his great deduction. Readers will not feel bored or lost when they
follow the step of Holmes.<<Okay, so I think the point in this paragraph is that one way scholars
describe Watsons role in the stories is that he is a student, and a student is necessary for the
teacher to teach. Thats a solid sub=pointhowever, you need to have more than one scholar in
each paragraph so that you can put them into conversation and synthesize their ideas on the
topic. Farrell, I think, also writes about the teacher-student relationship (I know he covers
parent-child)---so what you need to do for this paragraph is find that part in Farrell (or in any of the
other sources) and introduce a second voice that talks about Watson as a student.
The comparison of Holmes and Watson also shows the importance of the common
character since most readers have the same feeling like Watson.<hard to decode the meaning of
this sentence---but I think you mean that Watson is also described by the scholars as someone
who is intellectually more ordinary or common, in contrast to the genius of Holmes In the
novel<not Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, the author, Konnikova<first time
you introduce, use full name and if possible, some credentials (google her name and find out
about her) describes two different thinking systems. One of them is the Watson system: fast,
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intuitive, reactionarya kind of constant fight-or-fight vigilance of mind (17). Watson is
created to represents those who have this kind of thinking system. Watson usually makes just
gives a conclusions based on by what he has seen on the surface. The other system described
by Konnikova, the Holmes system,one is relatively slower, but more logical and thoughtful (page
from Konnikova). . Its representative is Holmes. Unlike Watson, Holmess conclusion does not
just come what he has seen at the crime scene. <this just repeats, you can cut After cCombining
with the knowledge in his mind and rechecking the unsure speculation, Sherlock<use last name
to refer to Holmes can finally make the assured conclusion. It can be seen<this is vague, so try to
stay away from phrases like this and instead use specifics, like: Sherlocks way of thinking is
illustrated from what he did in The Sign of Four, when he whipped out his lens and a tape
measure, and hurried about the room on his knees, measuring, comparing, examining, with his
long thin nose only a few inches from the planks, and his beady eyes gleaming and deep-set like
those of a bird (848). Watsons way of thinking (feature is the incorrect word for this
context)feature is created <wrong wordis more like that of a normal person, and thus, he acts
as a contrast that amplifies Holmes intelligence. as common as the normal people; it helps to
amplify the intelligence and prudence of Holmes. He <who is he? Unclear reference does not let
himself miss any details when he tries to gather more information and make a deduction.
However, not everyone can be such conscious like Holmes, their ability of thinking is much
more similar to Watsons. <you already said this The existence of Watson makes the reader feel
more realistic when they are reading the amusing stories of Holmes. <you have already said this,
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toono need to repeat It can also be seen<another vague way to startwhat is it? also,
instead of can be seen use this is illustrated or an example of this is in the
novel <noMurder Will Out: The Detective in Fiction, the author <who is the author? That is the
most important part of what youre doing herea lit reviewthe authors name is importantuse
specifics points out that it was an ingenious action to create Watson as a narrator in the stories of
Sherlock Holmes (9). BinyonIt also says<use a better verb that only three stories are not telling
<wrong wordnarrated by Watson, and all of these are put in the last collection of Sherlock
Holmess stories since they are less persuasive and less attractive to the audience.
<inaccuratethey were not put in the last collection because of thatthey were later stories, the
came out in the last collection Unlike other detectives, Holmes is more sensitive to emotion<no, he
is the oppositehe is not sensitive to emotionshe is cold logic-- Watson is emotions. But he is
eccentric, knowledgeable, and talented in many different fields, which makes him become
different from the character of ordinary Watson.<this is not from a scholarremember, you are
doing a literature review---every sentence in your development here should be something that
comes from a scholar, or some comment youre making on how the scholars agree or disagree or
offer different perspectives Although Watson is just a middle class gentleman during Victorian
era, he is absolutely necessary for the Holmes stories since he represents most of the readers at that
time. <what scholar says this? Cite and quote Watsons mistakes provide the readers a chance to
make a further bold guess. He was created to make the Holmes stories turn to be more interesting
since not every reader could always be interested in just listening to a genius show his talent. This
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paragraph suffers from a lack of cohesionit doesnt all focus clearly on the sub point youre
developing. I think the sub-point is that SCHOLARS HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT HOW Watson is
an important character because as the more normal of the two, he represents the reader, and also
acts as a foil (a contrast) to the genius of Holmes. I capitalized the part about the scholars
because that is not as prominent as it should be in the paragraph..revise to make sure every
sentence is about a scholar and about this point
In Kirby Farrellsthe article, Heroism, Culture, and Dread in The Sign of Four, Farrell
mentionshe offers another important role for Watson: _____<now name that new point here in
your topic sentence. , Watson represents an uneasy accommodation to the commonplace world.
Dissociation allows him-and the reader-to identifies with a godlike projection of human powers
and participates in a fantasy of mental exaltation. <something is wrong with this quote because
it is grammatically broken (subject-verb agreement error>> check to see that you got the quote
right Watson is created to lead the reader to follow him and walk into the world of Sherlock
Holmes. Without him, we cannot easily find out the meaning of Holmess each step. More or less,
his leading complements the missing part of Sherlocks monologue, which makes it more like a
story. In Paneks An Introduction to the Detective Story, we can also see that although Watson is
as common as a reader, his importance cannot be overlooked. When Holmes wants Watson to
make his narratives to be didactic, Doyle intelligently let Watson decline to do it (86). Like
Arun Thuraiarasan mentions in his review of Sherlock, BBC Season 1, there can be no Sherlock
Formatted: Font: Italic
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Holmes without a stalwart Dr. John Watson to define him. Watsons narration makes the
Holmess stories become more understandable and attractive. Since not everyone can understand
Holmess world alone, they would like to explore more with their guide, the complement of
Holmes, Watson.<Im not sure what the point is hereor really, it doesnt seem like another
point, but more on the first point? Perhaps the reference to Farrell should go into your first point
and then at the end you include a sentence to synthesize/wrap upits fine to have only two
points. So then your two sub points would both be about how the scholars describe the
relationship between SH/JWfirst, they compare it to teacher/student, and second, they describe
it in terms of SH as a genius and JW as more normal, and therefore, JW acts as a contrast to SH
As a student or a loser in a comparison, Watson is definitely less wise than Holmes.
However, the creation of him is a great supplement to the Holmes stories. His common, inferior
character makes readers become more attracted since they find their epitome in the book.
Needs a more developed conclusionsee assignment prompt bullets for what to include

Good start, JiaI think your main prioirity should be to reorganize into two sub-points, and then
revise your introduction so that it introduces these two points and introduces that youre doing a
lit review
Then once the content is solid, you need to do a thorough review for language error, especially
wrong words (you need to take out the time to look up words youre not 100% sure of) and verb
endings and agreement.
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WORKS CITED
Binyon, T.J. "Murder Will Out": The Detective in Fiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Print.
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Farrell, Kirby. Heroism, Culture, and Dread in The Sign of Four. Studies in the Novel 16:1
(1984): 32-51. JSTOR. Web. 01/15/2014.
Konnikova, Maria. Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes. New York: Viking, 2013.
Print.
Panek, Leroy. An Introduction to the Detective Story. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green
State University Popular Press, 1987. Print.
Conan Doyle, Arthur. The Sign of the Four. Seattle: Amazon Digital Services, 2013. Kindle
eBook. Online.
Arun Thuraiarasan, Sherlock, BBC Season 1- A Review
https://arunarasan.wordpress.com/tag/dr-john-watson/