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

The Dangers of ossification in Bartleby, the Scrivener and A Very Old sm only-arm with extensive Wings Authors tail handling various concepts to enhance or range the progression of their take on. Ambiguity is one such tool that has the power to square off a story. In Bartleby, the Scrivener and A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, Melville and Marquez utilize equivocalness to develop their storys theme. Both authors focus ambiguity around the main characters in the stories to criticize the rigid rules of transcriptions in society. Melvilles use of ambiguity in Bartleby is extreme and prevalent throughout the story. He introduces the reader to the narrators office in the beginning Bartlebys arrival to explain the functional system that exists before Bartleby. The reader gains knowledge of the narrators two copyists and is able to see that despite problems that separately man poses, the narrator is able to control these idiosyncrasies. Nevertheless, as he (Turk ey) 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 very useful man to me wrote a neat, swift hand and when he chose, was not deficient in a gentlemanly sort of manner (546). Throughout the text, Melville is very verbose in describing each mans peculiarities and we can know that the narrator is tolerant of such quirks. The narrator is understanding o... ...re able to translation on the harmful effects that a closed system can pose. Though each authors ambiguity centers on the main characters, the characters serve various roles in the stories. Bartleby exists in the rigid system that Melville criticizes, but then rejects the system to demonstrate the dangers of conformity. The old man with enormous wings, however, is never a relegate of the closed system that society belongs to. He merely 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. Dover Publications, Inc. parvenue York. 1993. Pgs. 1-34