The following two short stories, even though written several decades apart, both relate to one another by similarities and differences. The setting of “Bartleby the Scriver: A Story of Wall Street” takes place in an office in Wall Street in New York City around 1853. In “Young Goodman Brown” the setting takes place in a village called Salem, however, most of the story’s action takes place in a gloomy forest near 1835 (“Bartleby the Scrivener, A Tale of Wall Street”). Even though Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scriver: A Story of Wall Street” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” took place in two entirely different contrast settings, both stories contain a conflict that results in the downfall of the main character given from the outlook of two different narrators.

The setting in a story is the time or the geographical location in which the story is taking place in. In Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” the setting can be associated to be evil and dangerous because of how dark the forest is. "Faith!’ shouted Goodman Brown, in a voice of agony and desperation; and the echoes of the forest mocked him, crying, ‘Faith! Faith!’ as if bewildered wretches were seeking her all through the wilderness” (Hawthorne 5). Hawthorne uses figurative language to enhance the settings role in the story. The forest is associated as evil and dangerous because the diction Hawthorne chose to use. The setting of the story foreshadows the terrible fate of Goodman Brown. In comparison to “Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street”, this setting can be associated with a folding wall and an office with a window, “which originally had afforded a lateral view of certain grimy back-yards and bricks, but which, owing to subsequent erections, commanded at present no view at all, though it gave some light” (Melville 17). The view from Bartleby’s window plays symbolic role throughout the story. The title of the story talks about Wall Street. Ironically Bartleby’s view is a wall and a window that doesn’t have a view. The small office of Bartleby contributes toward his decision to prefer not to do anything.

Melville uses Wall Street to create a professional setting in the Lawyer’s office building. The setting initially seemed to work out for Bartleby until he preferred not to do anything. “I prefer not to dine to-day,’ said Bartleby, turning away. ‘It would disagree with me; I am unused to dinners.’ So saying he slowly moved to the other side of the inclosure, and took up a position fronting the dead wall” (Melville 500). Near the end of the story, the readers discover that Bartleby dies. The previous quote demonstrates how hubris can be lethal. Bartleby’s decision to prefer not to do anything ultimately leads to his demise. A similar example of a character’s actions leading to his/her downfall is displayed by Hawthorne in the following quote. “Goodman Brown snatched away the child as from the grasp of the fiend himself. Turning the corner by the meeting-house, he spied the head of Faith, with the pink ribbons, gazing anxiously forth, and bursting into such joy at sight of him that she skipped along the street and almost kissed her husband before the whole village. But Goodman Brown looked sternly and sadly into her face, and passed on without a greeting” (Hawthorne 8). Goodman Brown accepts the devil after heavily resisting all throughout the story. Once this occurs then it is clear that the young Goodman Brown will never trust anyone ever again. Hawthorne displays the consequence Goodman Brown faces for having accepted the devil.

Both Hawthorne and Melville wrote brilliant stories that parallel each other through its use of different narrators. For example, in “Young Goodman Brown”, the narrator is in third person. “Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch-meeting? Be it so if you will; but, alas! it was a dream of evil omen for young Goodman Brown. A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become from the night of that fearful dream” (Hawthorne 5). The narrator in the quote above explains how that one night in the forest changed Goodman Brown forever. The story contains an omniscient point of view because the narrator is telling the reader the character’s feelings, thoughts, and motives. In the beginning of the story, Goodman and his wife appear to be embracing and enjoying their life together. However, after the climax of the story, Goodman Brown returns home from the forest to resent everyone around him-including his wife Faith (Hawthorne). On the contrary, Bartleby started the story off as a simple scrivener that everyone resents. The narrator in first person effectively shows the lawyer’s neutral point of view. In comparison to Hawthorne, Melville uses a different structure of narration, however, both stories contain a conflict that changes the main character. “I cannot adequately express the emotions which seize me. Dead letters! does it not sound like dead men? Conceive a man by nature and misfortune prone to a pallid hopelessness, can any business seem more fitted to heighten it than that of continually handling these dead letters and assorting them for the flames?” (Melville 250) Throughout “Bartleby the Scrivener” the lawyer doesn’t influence Bartleby whatsoever. By the end of the story, nobody resents Bartleby because he dies. This contrasts the ending of “Young Goodman Brown” because Goodman Brown is the only person who resents everyone and everything he knows.

Even though Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scriver: A Story of Wall Street” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” took place in two entirely different contrast settings, both stories contain a conflict that results in the downfall of the main character given from the outlook of two different narrators. 
