People can never really say what they feel or what their situation is behind closed doors or behind the facade of the life they lead. Two masterfully crafted works of literature introduce readers to characters who have two similar but very different stories that end in the same outcome. In Herman Melville's story "Bartleby the Scrivener," readers are introduced to Bartleby, an interesting and shallow character. In comparison to Gail Godwin's work, "A Sorrowful Woman", we are presented with an unnamed woman with a physiological state similar to Bartleby's who expresses her feelings of dissatisfaction with her life. Here, a closer look at these characters, their situation, and their ultimate fate will be pursued and deepened for a deeper understanding of these characters' choice of death. At the beginning of each story, the characters are both presented as "ideal" characters in that story. their characteristics give characters their first perceived likability. In “Bartleby the Scrivener,” Melville uses distinctive characteristics to represent Bartleby uniquely from others in the story. He first enters the story, in response to an advertisement for a position as an editor in a law firm. Melville says: “One morning a young man stood motionless in the doorway of my office, the door being open because it was summer. I can see that figure now – palely well-groomed, pitifully respectable, incurably hopeless! (Meyer 149). Here he makes this known simply by seeing Bartleby's presence when he first enters the law office; This is exactly what the anonymous lawyer was asking about. He was far different from the other characters in the story. He had neither vices nor blockages, the first presence and his stature, he came their will and ready to...... middle of paper ...... see and feel it is a feeling of renewed spring thanks to all the work she did, she was not renewed, she is there, dead and the reader finds the child luxuriating in her final act of domestication. “Look, mom is sleeping,” said the boy. She's tired of doing all these things again. He strolled in the flow of the last sun of the day and watched his father tenderly roll his eyelids, place his ear gently against his chest, test the delicate bones of his wrist. The father rested his face in her freshly washed hair” (Meyer 43). They both choose death for a lifestyle they could no longer bear. They couldn't hope to another day live the life they didn't want and felt they couldn't change. The duration of their lifestyle was so long and so routine that they could only seek the option of death for their ultimate lifestyle change..