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

The Dangers of Conformity in Bartleby, the Scrivener and A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings   Ã‚  Ã‚   Authors can use various concepts to enhance or dictate the progression of their work. 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 story's theme. Both authors focus ambiguity around the main characters in the stories to criticize the rigid rules of systems in society.    Melville's use of ambiguity in "Bartleby" is extreme and prevalent throughout the story. He introduces the reader to the narrator's office before Bartleby's arrival to explain the functional system that exists before Bartleby. The reader gains knowledge of the narrator's 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 o'clock, 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 deportment" (546). Throughout the text, Melville is very verbose in describing each man's 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 effects that a closed system can pose. Though each author's 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 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 people's 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