Point of View

"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" is written in the first person narrative style. Our faithful and trusted narrator is Holmes' best friend, Dr. Watson. Often with first person narration the reader must be discerning. Not all first person narrators are reliable. A character in a book may be too personally involved to narrate objectively. Some examples of unreliable narrators are found in JimThompson's book, The Killer Inside Me, and Brett Easton Ellis' book, American Psycho, which are both narrated from the point of view of the murderers. Obviously, looking at a story through the eyes of a killer gives the reader a skewed, unrealistic perspective of the people and events he is narrating.

Dr. Watson is the complete contrast to such an unreliable narrator. Being an ethical man of science, Watson always endeavors to present the most clinically objective point of view of the story...