The Dangers of Conformity in Bartleby, the Scrivener and A Very Old Man

The Dangers of Conformity in Bartleby, the copyist and A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings Authors bottomland use various concepts to enhance or dictate the progression of their contrive. Ambiguity is one such tool that has the power to influence a story. In Bartleby, the Scrivener and A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, Melville and Marquez utilize ambiguity to develop their storys theme. Both authors focus ambiguity around the main characters in the stories to pick apart the rigid rules of dusts in society. Melvilles use of ambiguity in Bartleby is extreme and prevalent throughout the story. He introduces the reader to the narrators office before Bartlebys arrival to explain the useable system that exists before Bartleby. The reader gains knowledge of the narrators two copyists and is able to see that despite problems that each man poses, the narrator is able to control these idiosyncrasies. Nevertheless, as he (Turkey) was in many ways a most valuable person to me, and all the time before twelve oclock, meridian, was the quickest, steadiest creature, too, accomplishing a great deal of work in a style not easily to be matched - for these reasons, I was willing to overlook his eccentricities, though, indeed, occasionally, I remonstrated with him (545). But, with all his failings, and the annoyances he caused me, Nippers, like his compatriot, Turkey, was a truly useful man to me wrote a neat, swift hand and when he chose, was not deficient in a gentlemanly sort of deportment (546). Throughout the text, Melville is really verbose in describing each mans peculiarities and we can recognize that the narrator is tolerant of such quirks. The narrator is understanding o... ...re able to comment on the harmful make that a closed system can pose. Though each authors ambiguity centers on the main characters, the characters serve different roles in the stories. Bartleby exists in the rigid system that Melville criticizes, but then rej ects the system to demonstrate the dangers of conformity. The old man with enormous wings, however, is never a part of the closed system that society belongs to. He only if serves to exemplify the inconsistencies in peoples faith. Both stories encourage the reader to challenge the restrictions of rigid rules. Works Cited Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings. The Norton Introduction Literature. Ed. Jerome Beaty.N.Y. W.W. Norton and Company, 1996.525-529. Melville, Herman. Bartleby and Benito Cereno. capital of Delaware Publications, Inc. New York. 1993. Pgs. 1-34