"Bartleby, the Scrivener" and "The Birthmark"

The plot structure shown in both of these short stories is in media res meaning starting in the middle.  When looking at other possibilities for plot structure, flashback would not be as exciting for "The Birthmark."  In "The Birthmark" Aylmer's wife Georgiana dies in the end, and by using flashbacks the story wouldn't have the same impact and wouldn't be as dramatic at the choice of using in media res.  I feel that in "Bartleby, the Scrivener" flashback would have been an option because it would give the readers insight from Bartleby's perspective and give a better explanation for his actions.  In "The Birthmark" Aylmer was very motivated to remove his wife's birthmark and stayed that way throughout the story giving him consistency throughout.  Since Aylmer remained the same throughout the story and didn't undergo any change of mind whatsoever, he is definitely portrayed as a static character.  When we look at Bartleby, he was not motivated or plausible because when he was asked to perform a task by his boss he would respond that he "preferred not to" for no apparent reason.  However, Bartleby was very consistent with these actions because he never changed his response, making him a static character as well.  By comparing these two short stories we can see that a character can be static (unchanging) throughout the storyline and still have many differences, such as motivation, plausibility, and consistency.  Even thought a character fits a character trait, they can also possess many other traits as well.  For example, even though we first saw Bartleby as a static character because he was stuck with his thought of "preferring not to," but we can also see that he is a flat character as well.  Relating to the plot structure of a story, we can see that the author makes the choice to choose in media res for the layout of the story, but there can be other ways to present the storyline in a dramatic way as well.  For example, in "Bartleby, the Scrivener" the author could have chosen to use the flashback method to give a better understanding of why Bartleby acts the way he does.  Some may also say that the flashback method could have been a good way to go with "The Birthmark" by saying that the storyline could have been showing the process to how Georgiana lost her life.  By comparing and contrasting these two short stories, I was able to dig a little deeper into the making and choices of the text.  It shows that each person may have an opinion of what the story is presenting and how it should be presented.