Point of View in Bartleby, the Scrivener Essay -- Herman Melville

Point of View is incorporated in to stories to show the readers how the story is told. It includes describing the position and person in the story. Position is how far the narrator is from everything that is going on in the story. Person is way the narrator shows the character and their attitude. There are four different parts that make up the Point of View. These four parts include: Third-Person Omniscient, Third Person Limited Omniscient, First Person, and the Objective. Third-Person Omniscient is when the author of the story, tells the story as a narrator. They â€Å"know ,† â€Å"speak,† and are able to follow every character in the story. Third-Person Limited Omniscient means that the narrator only knows the thoughts and feelings of one character in the story. The author is still the narrator. First Person is when the author chooses one character to tell the story. You will often see the words, â€Å"I,† and â€Å"me,† through out. The narrator will most likely be in the middle of the action, or telling the story from a past perspective. Lastly, the objective is how the author gets the point across without interpreting the character’s feelings. According to our textbook, â€Å"E-Fictions,† it is similar to â€Å"looking at a story as if the audience were watching it through a camera lens.† Herman Melville uses a first person point of view to show the narrator’s first hand fascination with his employee Bartleby, as well as Bartleby’s strange behavior and insubordination. The lawyer hires Bartleby as his scrivener. He is awestruck because Bartleby is so quick and efficient. He asks Bartleby to help him examine papers and Bartleby replies,† I would prefer not to.† Bartleby’s reply surprised the lawyer. The lawyer repeated himself. ... ... these letters speed to death. Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!† Using first person point of view in this story was a good way to show the readers first hand how the lawyer felt. I don’t think the author could have used any other point of view to explain to the reader how the lawyer felt about Bartleby. If he had used third-person omniscient, it would have pulled away from the narrator, and focused on all of the characters more. If he would have used third-person limited omniscient, we would not have gotten how the other characters in the story felt about Bartleby. Objective would not have worked either, because he wouldn’t really get to see what was going on in the lawyers â€Å"head.† In conclusion, point of view is very pertinent to telling the story. It is how the story is told, and who the story is told by. All of these factors go in to point of view.