In the short story “Bartleby the Scrivener” the protagonist is the narrator of the tale. The narrator is confused by Bartleby, and Bartleby eventually causes an internal change in the narrator from his strange demeanor. Aside from the narrator’s character growth over the course of the story, the narrator is also an important to the story because if we saw the story through Bartleby’s perspective then the story would be less interesting. One of the things that makes the story of Bartleby the Scrivener interesting is the fact that, much like the narrator, we can only guess why Bartleby acts the way he does.

In the short story of “Sonny’s Blues” the main character is also the narrator of the story. His internal conflict and eventual change of heart is caused by is younger brother Sonny, but just because his change is caused by another character doesn’t mean the narrator isn’t the protagonist. His change is internal, much like the narrator of “Bartleby the Scrivener,” but we the readers experience the story through his eyes and are shown things from his perspective. If Sonny was the protagonist of the story, then out viewpoint would be completely different.