In the two texts “Bartleby the Scrivener” by Herman Melville and “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, two very different stories are told.  Melville’s text details the story of a very accomplished wall street lawyer who runs his own office. One day he hires a new scrivener and at first he is a good worker but he eventually starts to plainly declining work. His lack of productivity soon turns in to deranged behavior that ends up getting him thrown in jail where he ultimately dies. Hawthorne’s text tells the story of a young puritan who is tempted by the devil to venture in to the forest and meet for a ritualistic gathering. Young Goodman Brown eventually succumbs to the devil and ventures in to the forest where he sees all of the members of the village participating in satanic rituals. The next day he wakes up and resents his faith because he believes all of the pillars of faith in his community secretly worship the devil. These two story arcs are very different but there are numerous similarities that can be drawn in the way that the characters react to their surroundings. Both Young Goodman Brown and the Narrator have very involved and strict lifestyles that they adhere to and typically would not stray from. In both their stories, they are subjected to a character that tests their natural instincts and exposes them to scenarios beyond their previous experience. The way the Narrator and Young Goodman Brown react to their antagonists is very crucial because it displays their true humanity and gives insight in to their levels of compassion and dedication. 

The Narrator in Melville’s story is, “Respectable and conservative, describing himself as “an eminently safe man” who believes that “the easiest way of life is the best.”” (Howes). He is a mild mannered man of business who admits to doing financially rewarding but unexciting legal work. The two other individuals that the narrator employs are Turkey and Nippers. Like Bartleby, these two employees exhibit very peculiar behavior. It inhibits their ability to keep a certain level of productivity however, it never completely stops them from working like Bartleby. When Bartleby starts denying requests to work, the Narrator has to make a decision whether to respond with a harsh decision, or to display sympathy for Bartleby and try to help him. Initially, he is so startled by Bartleby’s plain voiced denial that he acquiesces to his demand but when he continues to deny working the lawyer finds himself at a crossroad. The Narrator is a man of business, working on wall street a notoriously cut throat industry. In order for a capitalistic firm to thrive, an equilibrium needs to be reached by the players in the economy. It is not mandated, inefficiencies are discarded by employers and only the hardest working and successful individuals thrive. One would expect the Narrator to fire Bartleby due to his ineffectiveness but he does not. Instead he goes along with his antics, allowing Bartleby to not work and sleep at the office up until the lawyer has to contact authorities upon the request of others. This behavior is very out of the ordinary from what would be expected of a wall street lawyer. The significance of the lawyer’s acceptance of Bartleby’s behavior is that it gives the readers insight in to the Narrators true character. As Howe’s explains in his analysis of the story, “The narrator's tolerance of the eccentricities first of Turkey and Nippers and then of Bartleby has been seen as humane and compassionate” (Howe). Numerous times throughout the story the Narrator could have been done with Bartleby all together but he persistently does his best to understand the peculiar man even though they are two extremely different people. Even when Bartleby is sent to jail for his passive disobedience, the narrator still tries to tend to him and ensure he gets proper food and care. When the Narrator was exposed to a character that challenges his views and normality, the way he reacted dictated his characterization for the rest of the story.

In Melville’s story, Young Goodman Brown is also faced with a decision that exposes his true character. In the story, Young Goodman Brown is a Puritan. In original puritan beliefs, there is was no guarantee that one could make it in to heaven no matter they did in their mortal life (Moss and Wilson). However, as puritans began the migrate to America, the belief system morphed and became more relaxed. In the story, Young Goodman Brown “…presumes that his fate is already sealed—he will be saved. After all, God had made a covenant with his grandfather and his grandfather's seed, or off-spring. If Brown sins for one night, he reasons, it is of little consequence.”. This mindset makes Young Goodman Brown more susceptible to temptation and sin. In the beginning of the story, Young Goodman Brown’s curiosity draws him out in to the woods and the devil’s reassurance that Brown’s family also met with devil keeps his doubts at bay. As the story progresses, Brown becomes influenced by the townspeople in the words more and more. He eventually ends up going all the way to the satanic meeting because he believed he saw his wife in the woods. At this point in the story Brown has repeatedly ignored opportunities to turn back because he was influenced by the people in the town. He was put in a scenario where his faith was tested and in the end of the story he ends up resenting it. In Moss and Wilson’s analysis of the story they state, Brown's actions at the end of the story show that he believes that the things he saw the night before really happened. He avoids the blessing of the minister and asks, regarding the town deacon, “What God doth the wizard pray to?” (“Young Goodman Brown,” p. 147). He also looks sternly upon his wife.” (Moss and Wilson). Despite the fact that all of the events in the forest were most likely a dream, he allows them to crowd his judgement even though his curiosity of the woods caused the endeavor in the first place. Young Goodman Brown is originally presented as a puritan who seems to love his wife but after he lets the devil influence his decision he turns away from all of the people in his town that he once respected. Brown’s decisions exposed a part of him that would have gone un noticed otherwise. In truth, Brown in not that devote of a puritan. The end of the story shows that in reality it did not take much to shake Brown of his puritan ideals.

The way that the two main characters react to their precarious situations shows their humanity. This is so important to understanding the characters because people show their true values when they are faced with difficult decisions. There is more to each story than the characters that inhabit it but the characters are what give it life. When one can see the decisions that Young Goodman Brown and the Narrator make in the stories, they make the text much more relatable and exciting to dive in to. Without these brief moments that showcase the characters’ morality, there would be no insight or acknowledgment that the characters are anything more than what people initially expect them to be. With this snapshot of morality, the reader is able to more clearly understand what drives the characters. This allows one to more easily understand the conflict in the story.  When people are faced with decisions or put in to difficult scenarios their true colors are shown. The way that Young Goodman Brown was tempted by the devil shows that he really isn’t a loyal puritan. The way that the Narrator was tested showed that there was a lot more to him than being an emotionless wall street lawyer. The way they were tested gives the reader an idea of who they truly are at the core.
