Discussing narrative techniques - Essay Example

e story are that a young girl, with a temperamental stepfather, comes to Holmes and Watson to help her solve the mystery of her twin sister’s death. The sister died after hearing peculiar noises, and shrieked about the “speckled band.” The resolution comes after Holmes and Watson stay the night at the house where the woman and her stepfather live, then find out that an exotic snake was used to kill the twin sister, and Holmes turns the snake onto the stepfather, who dies as a result. However, the events are told in a straightforward manner, and there could possibly be events which are withheld from the audience.

As Brewer (1984) notes, narrator has the freedom to omit details or rearrange the events in his discourse. Doyle seemed to prefer that the events are not rearranged, for they happened sequentially, and it seemed that the details were complete in Watson’s retelling. Watson’s point of view did, however, add richness to the proceedings. For instance, we get some of Watson’s opinions about Holmes, and how Holmes is able to make logical deductions in a rapid way. Also, Watson is able to wrap up the story with a kind of epilogue at the end of the tale, by stating what happened to the young girl, and that the coroner’s office concluded that the death of Roylott was an accident that occurred because Roylott was playing with a dangerous pet.

Therefore, the narrative discourse gives the reader the benefit of knowing that Holmes is somebody who will solve his case with rapid logic, and also has the benefit of knowing what became of the girl and the dead man after the man died. The story itself, however, clearly takes up the bulk of the tale, as Watson’s thoughts are minimized throughout the tale. This tale was one of suspense. According to Cheong & Young (2008), “suspense is the feeling of excitement or anxiety that audience members feel when they are waiting for something to happen and are uncertain about an uncertain outcome” (p. 144).