Bartleby The Scrivener :: essays research papers

Most everyone remembers a favorite account that he or she has read. A book that just captivated the ref from beginning to end. But how do authors successfully grab the attention of their readers? Authors hold specific techniques to convey the constituents, setting, and plot effectively. The two short stories Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville and The Tenant by Bharati Mukherjee do just that. The authors of some(prenominal) stories effectively start out unique characters through description or narration, action, and dialogue, which check into in with both the setting and the plot. The main character in Bartleby, the Scrivener is indeed an elicit one. Although the name of the story may give the impression that the main character is Bartleby, it is in fact the bank clerk whom we learn the most about. The vote counter is set forth as a very orderly person. His actions and speech demonstrate his fine ways. The fabricator even shows the reader right from the beginning that he prefers to go about in an orderly fashion, by the fact that he absolutely must give background about his life and work, before he can begin to tell us about his employee. "Ere introducing the scrivenerif is fit I make some mention of my self, my employés, my business, my chambers, and general surround" (Meyer, 113). The tellers setting, including his office, also shows that he likes to keep everything organized. His office is confused into sections by folding glass doors to distinguish his side of the room from his scriveners. The narrator also separates Bartleby into confinement. "Still further to a satisfactory arrangement, I procured a high green folding screen, which might entirely isolate Bartleby from my sight, though not remove him from my voice" (118). The reader can see that the narrator likes to have a set way of doing tasks through his actions and interactions with the other characters. The narrator is obviously not one whose demands are o ften ignored. He does not quite seem to know how to react when Bartleby "prefers" not to comply with the narrators wishes. "I staggered to my desk, and sat there in a heavyset study Was there any other thing in which I could procure myself to be ignominiously repulsed by this lean, penniless wight? my engage clerk?" (122). Another one of the narrators qualities is being pompous. He seems to have an overblown image of himself and puts himself above others.