Protagonist/Antagonist?- what is the Boss up against in the person of Bartleby? Does Bartleby represent a force beyond himself as an individual ? Major / Minor (who are the major players in the story ? What do we know about them ? Are they likable ? Sympathetic? Realistic ? What's the function of the story's minor characters?) Dynamic / static -who changes? who stays the same ? is the story about growth or change ? Round / flat - who is the round character? who is the flat character?
In the story Bartelby the Scrivener, I believe that the protagonist is the lawyer (narrator) due to his desire to search for a well, reliable worker. Also, the antagonist of the story is the soft spoken Bartelby due to his ability to do nothing. In the story, the lawyer (also the boss) has to deal with Bartelby's stubborn, cantankerous personality. In the beginning of the short story, Bartelby was a hard working employer. Following and obeying every task given by his boss, Bartelby found himself on the boss's good side. However as the story advanced, the readers are opened up to the true Bartelby. Bartelby does less work than he initially did when he first received the job. It comes to a point where Bartelby simply says to his boss "I prefer not to" after each request. Bartelby definitely represent a force behind himself as an individual who's powerful with a soft voice. Bartelby's ability to simply respond "I prefer not to" without giving s brief reason why he refuses to do a task shows that Bartelby isn't a push over. In the story, the major characters are the Boss and Bartelby and the minor characters are Gingernut, Nippers and Turkey. As we know, the story revolves around Bartelby and the lawyer. Bartelby is an individual that can be liked or hated by different people. Some may dislike Bartelby's work ethic in the end of the story while others may applaud it. Same goes for the lawyer in the story. Some people may admire his ability to search diligently for an employer while others may dislike his numerous requests to Bartelby. I believe that only the lawyer is realistic character due to his personality. It's very common to see bosses search for a hard working employee. However, Bartelby isn't realistic in my opinion because of his vague response of "I prefer not to". The minor characters are also realistic in my opinion because they represent pedestrian employers. In my opinion the only character that changed in the story was Bartelby. Bartelby transformed from a hard working employee to a nuisance. It's safe to say that every other character besides Bartelby stays the same. As Bartelby refuses to complete given tasks in a calm matter, the boss is introduced to a new perspective in life. I believe that the story is about change because in the beginning of the story, the boss does anything for a hard working employee and his want for a hardworker back fires when he's employee refuses. Every character in this story has an impact to make the plot complete, so I believe that there aren't any flat characters.
