Moby Dick

        Both Herman Melville’s novel, Moby Dick, and his short story, “Bartleby the Scrivener” open with the narrators presenting themselves to the reader. Moby Dick begins with the direct phrase “Call me Ishmael” (Melville, 1). This is truly a command, in a sense, and it serves to draw the readers in without giving them a choice. The phrase also causes the reader to question the narrator’s reliability: is his name really Ishmael, or is he just telling us to call him that?

            “Bartleby the Scrivener,” on the other hand, opens with the phrase, “I am a rather elderly man” (Melville, 1). This phrase does not grab the reader in quite as much, as it is not a command, and the description of the narrator is average and somewhat dull. His reliability as a narrator seems to be fairly stable – he presents himself in a steady, credible manner.

            In the opening of Moby Dick, Ishmael dives right into a description of himself, first going back to several years earlier in his life. He then describes his emotions and proceeds to state what these emotions mean he must do – “get to sea” (Melville, 1).

            The elderly lawyer in “Bartleby the Scrivener” takes a different approach. After his initial identification, he does not discuss himself, but others. The only emotions he mentions are also those of others. Towards the end of the first paragraph, he begins to narrow his focus to the scrivener Bartleby, taking the attention away from himself. However, in the next paragraphs, he describes himself. His description is, again, very credible – he describes himself as unambitious, yet as being fond of money.

            In Moby Dick, Ishmael proceeds to speak directly to the reader using second person, and describes the initial setting of the novel.

            The self-presentations of the narrators that occur in the beginning of both the novel and the short story serve to instill different “moods” in the readers of what to expect and what to be wary of in those that lead them through the plot.

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