Who is The Lightning-Rod Man from Great Short Works of Herman Melville and what is their importance? Great_Short_Works_of_Herman_Melville English & Literature The Lightning-Rod Man | Great Short Works of Herman Melville

The story The Lightning-Rod Man features a door-to-door salesman of lightning rods. He promotes his own lightning rod as vastly superior to the competition and urges the product on the reluctant narrator. In most respects, the lightning-rod man can be interpreted as a preacher of a particular Christian sect. The narrator's response suggests that man needs no intermediary to achieve salvation; it also repeats a common theme in the stories in the book dealing with the alienating impact of modern developments.