The infamous final statement in Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener,” “Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity! (Melville 34), signifies not only the tragic end of Bartleby's character, but also the sad ruin of humanity. This enigmatic statement can be applied both to "Bartleby the Scrivener" and to Melville's other story, "Benito Cereno." Both stories are narrated by unreliable characters, leaving further questions as to whether or not the Lawyer was truly trying to help Bartleby when he showed signs of depression or whether Captain Delano's one-sided story truly depicted the slaves and their motivations for taking over the property of Cereno. Saint Dominic. In each of Melville's short stories, there is an obvious grayness to each tale, the plots of both stories begin slow and unsuspecting, but are then revealed through a dynamic change of events, and each novella has ultimate realities that are hidden through the appearances. Together, “Bartleby the Scrivener” and “Benito Cereno” are stories that have a deep meaning within them that is intended to make the reader question the definition of human nature. The characters of the Lawyer in “Bartleby the Scrivener” and Captain Delano in “Benito Cereno” are both unreliable narrators who Melville intentionally made unreliable to trick the reader into believing the picture each narrator was painting. At the beginning of the story the Lawyer defines himself as old and lazy: "I am a rather old man... I am a man who, since his youth, has been pervaded by a profound conviction that the easiest way in life is the best" (Melville 3), proving to be indolent in his efforts. Captain Delano is an unreliable character because he is a Caucasian ship captain for a time...... middle of paper ......shows that there was an obvious struggle by whites to recognize black slaves and give them respect, which then led to the attempted riot. All this grayness in attitude or grayness in color is used as a metaphor to resemble the dull and non-descriptive nature that humanity possesses. Now, reading about humanity as a sad ruin may seem a little dramatic and depressing, but unfortunately it's true. Melville used the character of Bartleby as a symbol of the inevitable fall of humanity in 1853. Today, the same message can be conveyed through the mysterious character of Bartleby. Times have not changed and the moral values ​​of human beings still show signs of total disappointment. «Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity! (Melville 34). Works Cited Melville, Herman and Herman Melville. Bartleby; And Benito Cereno. New York: Dover Publications, 1990. Print.