Compare and Contrast "Bartleby" and "The Birthmark"

1) Both authors seemed to use the same plot structure: in medias res. They began in the middle of the plots, beginning in the middle of the lives of the characters, and in the middle of the relationship for "The Birthmark." In each plot, one of the main characters is trying to change something they don't understand. In "Bartleby" the lawyer is trying to change and understand Bartleby because he doesn't understand him. He understands every other one of his workers, but Bartelby. It is similar in "The Birthmark," where the scientest tries to control nature and its footprint on his wife. He tries to control smething he doesn't understand. By doing this he kills his wife, just like in "Bartleby" Bartleby dies in the end.

In both stories, the characters are motivated. The Lawyer is motivated to understand Bartleby and the scientist is motivated to remove the birthmark on his wife's cheek. Both have dynamic characters: the wife, who realizes she hates her birthmark as well, and the lawyer, who realizes he can't understand Bartleby. They both have dynamic characters as well: the scientist and Bartleby.

2) By comparing the two stories, we can see their similarites. Though they are both set in different places and are about different characters and instances in life, they can be similar. They are both centered around the fact that characters want to change that which they don't know: nature and human nature; why people act they way they do and why nature acts the way it does. By comparing these stories, we see similarities, but placed in two different stories by two different authors. We can see the similar ways in how authors write.