- The Scrivener In Herman Melville’s “ the Scrivener”, the author uses several themes to convey his ideas. The three most important themes are alienation, man’s desire to have a free conscience, and man’s desire to avoid conflict. Melville uses the actions of an eccentric scrivener named , and the responses of his cohorts, to show these underlying themes to the reader. The first theme, alienation, is displayed best by ’s actions. He has a divider put up so that the other scriveners cannot see him, while all of them have desks out i ....