Phoenix Vs. Bartleby The Scrivener

Fire and No Desire:
Phoenix vs. Bartleby

Dictionary.com defines fiction as “the class of literature comprising works of imaginative narration, especially in prose form.” All of the work read in the last few weeks have definitely taken fiction to a new level. The works presented had varying levels of characterization and allowed the reader to envision the characters as you perceived them. I found particular interest in the works of Herman Melville in his short story, “Bartleby the Scrivener” and in Eudora Welty’s, “A Worn Path”. As I read each short story, I found differences in how the writer described the main characters. This is an analysis of the main characters similarities and differences.
The story of Bartleby the Scrivener is based

Phoenix is an elderly black woman who is walking a path into town. The narrator describes the path that she has walked twice a year in the middle of December to pick up medicine for her ill grandson (839). The walk takes the woman over half of the day to reach her final destination. Along the way, Phoenix continually talks to herself and her surroundings. She uses her cane, made from an old umbrella, to walk the worn path into town. She is frightened by a scarecrow in a corn field. She also crawls through a barb wired fence and talks herself through it. She tells herself that she does not have time to get her dress all ripped up or to lay there waiting for someone to come and cut off her arm or leg if she were to get hurt, nor can she afford it. She finds her way into town based on her surroundings. She is familiar with the area as she makes this long journey twice a

As an elderly African American woman, she is shown as a weak person both physically and mentally, yet she is able to handle the long journey on her own. She is not rattled by the things that would seem to be difficult, such as the hunter and the vicious dog. She is more concerned about making the long journey to town. When she encounters the hunter, she manages to “steal” a nickel from him and feels guilty for doing so. The nickel fell out of his pocket into the dirt and she quickly grabs it and tucks it into her worn apron. The hunter and Phoenix engage in a conversation in which he ends up pointing his rifle at her. Phoenix stands perfectly still and when the hunter asks if the gun scares her she states, “No, sir, I seen plenty go off closer by, in my day, and for less than what I done.” When Phoenix reaches town, she stops a “missy” and asks her to tie her shoes so that she can be presentable when she goes into the big building, her final destination. Upon entering the building, it is revealed that she is there to obtain medicine for her ailing grandson at no cost to her. The nurse asks her how her grandson is and Phoenix freezes. She has forgotten about the reason she came into town. After some prodding, the nurse finds out that her grandson is okay and she gives Phoenix the medicine, marking it in their books under charity. She also gives her another 5 cents from her own money, much to Phoenix’s delight.