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

The Dangers of Conformity in Bartleby, the pen hu musical composition beings and A Very Old patch with Enormous Wings Authors can procedure various concepts to enhance or dictate the progression of their work. Ambiguity is one(a) such(prenominal) 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 equivocalness to develop their storys theme. Both authors focus equivocalness around the main characters in the stories to criticize the determined rules of systems in federation. Melvilles use of ambiguity in Bartleby is positive and prevalent throughout the story. He introduces the contributor to the narrators office before Bartlebys reaching to explain the functional system that exists before Bartleby. The reader gains knowledge of the narrators cardinal copyists and is able-bodied to see that despite problems that each man poses, the narrator is able to control these idiosy ncrasies. 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 elan 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 deportment (546). Throughout the text, Melville is very long-winded 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 do that a closed system can pose. Though each authors ambiguity centers on the main characters, the characters serve different roles in the stor ies. 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 part 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. New York. 1993. Pgs. 1-34