In "Bartleby, the Scrivener" by Herman Melville, the changing attitudes of the narrator have a significant impact on the narrator's conclusion. Other literary elements, such as diction, point of view, and imagery also play a part of the story's overall outcome.
             The lawyer is very concerned for his own self-approval. He is unable to fully realize Bartleby's desperation because of his constant concern for what the scrivener can do for his self-approval instead of what he can do for Bartleby. He does not allow Bartleby's problems to affect him because he does not believe such problems exists or matters. The story is told from a limited, first person point of view, which allows for the self-centered attitude of the narrator, such as in lines, "All who know me consider me to be an eminently safe man." The narrator's world of materialism is the complete opposite of Bartleby's world. Bartleby, who constantly challenges normality, cannot survive in a world where conformity is necessary for survival. His defiance and questioning are show in lines like, "I would prefer not to." The lawyer and Bartleby are helpless to fully understand each other's situations, although the lawyer originally placed himself and Bartleby in the same context of society, "For both I and Bartleby were sons of Adam." At the conclusion of the story, however, he seems to recognize the universality of Bartleby's dilemma. Bartleby faces the walls of the Tombs (jail), while the lawyer faces the walls of Wall Street.
             The diction of the story also contributes to the narrator's attitude toward Bartleby. The author uses ghostly descriptions of Bartleby to foreshadow his fading existence. The narrator also describes going up the stairs to his old office as "going upstairs to my old haunt." The ghostly characteristics of Bartleby extend to the
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