Direct Characterization

"It was afternoon, be it remembered. Turkey sat glowing like a brass boiler, his bald head steaming, his hands reeling among his blotted papers."

In the story "Bartleby the Scrivener" by Herman Melville, the character Turkey is directly characterized. The narrator says that it is afternoon and then says that Turkey is steaming. In the afternoon, Turkey is grouchy and Nippers is rational, but in the morning it is vice versa. Turkey is also very violent and really wants to hit Bartleby in the face. However, the narrator will not let him. Also, the narrator will not fire Bartleby either. This gives off the notion that the narrator secretly likes him for some odd reason. He doesn't punish Bartleby for not doing what he asks.