Why does Melville start, or refuse to start, with the figure of the consumptive usher? I interpreted his presence as an announcement of the experimental literary form that we are about to dive into. We are told that this man is an usher for a grammar school. Grammar schools used to focus on teaching the classic languages and literature. From a quick internet search I learned that the role of a grammar school ushered was typically a subordinate position to the headmaster and was often a transitory position. Meaning that an usher could expect to eventually become a headmaster of get a different position elsewhere. The Usher in this story has passed away and the reader can assume that the Usher never did go on to ascend any further in his career, he is only acknowledged as a dying usher from an non-descript school. The text first directs our attention to the image of this solitary figure amongst books full of grammar rules and instruction created by people long gone. I am particularly interested in the following line, “He was ever dusting his old lexicons and grammars, with a queer handkerchief, mockingly embellished with all the gay flags of all the known nations of the world.” We are not told where in the world this usher resides but I assume that in this handkerchief, the United States flags is probably not included. From what we have learned in class, the United States as a country is in this burgeoning state but it is still a child compared to the history of the European nations. According to Emerson, it is a country that up until this point is still looking to Europe for instruction. I like that Melville says that it is imprinted with all the “known” nations of the world. By adding the word “known” Melville tells us that we are not to assume that this is the totality of nations in the world, whatever nations are omitted from this handkerchief are simply not yet known in their own right. Here then, is Melvilles submitted work for the nation of America. A book that challenges the pre-established rules of what constitutes a piece of literature and simultaneously claims that America is so unlike any nation like the ones on this handkerchief that it necessitates the breaking of the rules that can be found in these grammar books. Melville signals to the reader, that just like the dying usher, these classical rules are also fading. But this does not mean nothing else will rise to replace it in its stead.