In Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway and “Bartleby the Scrivener” by Herman Melville, both literary pieces contain a technique called minimalism, an extreme simplicity used to repeat a deeper meaning in the text. Both authors use this writing style to their advantage. Each piece focuses on two characters (so as to focus on the message that the author wants to convey). Hills Like White Elephants features Jig, a childish woman who has been impregnated by her controlling lover, the American's son, unfortunately the couple is not married and this child will be born out of wedlock unless there is a way to ensure that the pregnancy remains hidden. “Bartleby the Scrivener” contains the static and self-destructive main character Bartleby and his curious boss who takes up the position of narrator throughout the tale. Melville and Hemingway each use minimalist techniques in their stories; however, Hemingway uses minimalism in his description while Melville uses minimalism as a theme. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay "Bartleby the Scrivener" by Herman Melville depicts Bartleby, a hard-working man who one day decides to give up. His downward spiral is eminent: “Bartleby was one of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable…” (Melville 26). The story, written and set in 1853, follows the life and duties of this not-so-mediocre scribe, who once copied words perfectly onto paper but now rarely gets anything done. During his breakdown Bartleby isolates himself from the rest of society, "[he] sat in his hermitage, ignorant of all but his own particular affairs" (Melville 32). A normal person would be fired if they told their boss they "would rather not do that" when asked to complete a task, but not Bartleby. His boss, often called The Master of the Chancellery, is so shocked by this response that Bartleby gains the sympathy of his employer and is offered help to get out of a dark situation, which he fundamentally does not accept, his success or his failure will be on his terms and it is this stubborn attitude that leads him down this path of deterioration. This simplistic answer, which leaves little room for explanation, is so shocking and breaks the social contract that society has established. The author keeps this singular sentence so short, as a reflection of his minimalist style. The story, as a whole, uses setting, dialogue, and characterization to portray minimalism as a theme. In Hills Like White Elephants, a conversation between an arguing couple with a big decision to make is narrated through a third-person point of view. . Two young people thirsty to travel along a Spanish railway are deciding whether or not to choose to have this unexpected child or not. From the narrator's statements we discover that the couple had problems before and probably would not have been able to cope without the child, but the American, the male protagonist, seems to think differently: "This is the only thing that worries us. 'only thing that made us unhappy." (Hemingway 50) says, meaning that their problems are only circumstantial, surely none of their actions are responsible for the arguments. As the reader progresses through the story, two settings are revealed on each side of the tracks, one representing fertility, “the cornfields and trees along the banks of the Ebro” (Hemingway 37) and the other representing death and baronness, “The hills across the Ebro valley were long and white. (Hemingway 1). After centuries of arguments, they come to an agreement.