The Success of the Opening to The Empty House in Engaging the Reader in the Story

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Recommended: The role of a narrator

The Success of the Opening to The Empty House in Engaging the Reader in the Story

English Coursework

An author can engage the reader in their stories by describing

different aspects of the text in an interesting way. The narrator of a

story is one way that can interest a reader by the knowledge and

background they have or by the way they tell a story. The larger than

life characters used in the text can be good ways to grab the reader's

attention by being thoroughly believable, allowing the reader to

become attached to them or even, in the case of Sherlock Holmes,

compete with them. Holmes, Watson and the characters within the

stories are examples of these entertaining and realistic individuals.

The settings and social context are important features for the appeal

of a story to a reader. The vocabulary used is an important way in

which the author can engage the reader, as the words need to be

interesting and vivid for the person reading to be intrigued. Dull

words that bore and do not create an interest for the reader are not

useful in engaging the attention of the reader. The six short stories

that I shall study during this essay are 'The Empty House', 'The Final

Problem', 'The Speckled Band', 'The Man With The Twisted Lip',

'Shoscombe Old Place' and 'The Red Headed League'. I shall analyse the

opening paragraphs to discover the methods that Conan Doyle uses to

engage the reader's attention. During the analysis I will explore

ideas such as vocabulary, plot and narrator of the stories.

The narrator in all six of these detective stories is the character of

Dr. James Watson. Watson makes an excellent choice as the narrator as

...

... middle of paper ...

...t being around. This suggests the

knowledge of Holmes is far more superior than the police's,

encouraging those reading to want to know more about such an

incredible man.

To conclude, I think that the opening to 'The Empty House' is the most

successful in engaging the reader in the story. Watson regards his

experiences highly as he says that he has had an "interesting and

adventurous life" yet this crime managed to shock him and gave him a

"sudden flood of joy, amazement and incredulity". The "close intimacy"

shared between Holmes and Watson leads those reading to feel involved

in such a relationship too and be taken in by the story. The detail

that ten years had passed before Watson could reveal the story

suggests that the story is going to be of interest otherwise there

would have been no reason to ait so long.

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