Bartleby The Scrivener, By Melville Essay

People one can never really tell how person is feeling or what their situation is behind closed doors or behind the façade of the life they lead. Two masterly crafted literary works present readers with characters that have two similar but very different stories that end in the same result. In Herman Melville’s story “Bartleby the Scrivener” readers are presented with Bartleby, an interesting and minimally deep character. In comparison to Gail Godwin’s work, “A Sorrowful Woman” we are presented with a nameless woman with a similar physiological state as Bartleby whom expresses her feelings of dissatisfaction of her life. Here, a deeper examination of these characters their situations and their ultimate fate will be pursued and delved into

This aspect of Bartleby’s heroism affects the story by developing a new theme to the story and developing the character of the narrator who is part of the story as the boss to Bartleby. It develops the theme of association between chronometrical time and the world of the spirits. It also changes the character of the narrator because he develops a new attitude towards time, and the world of spirits, which changes his normal way of belief.

The reader can begin to see Bartleby`s soul dying when he begins to “prefer not to “ do anything (Melville 11). When the narrator asked Bartleby “where [he was] born” Bartleby replied that “[he[ would prefer not to” so it show us that Bartleby is a very private person (11). Bartleby is someone who “nothing of this sort (a biography) can be done” because he never opened up to anyone (1). The narrator begins to think that if it was anyone would have said that he would have “ flown outright into a dreadful passion”, but he realizes “something about Bartleby [disarmed him]” but also “ in a wonderful manner touched and disconcerted [him]”, which shows he thought a lot about Bartleby. The narrator describes Bartleby as a “subordinate clerk when he worked at “the Dead Letter Office” so we know that Bartleby is a kind respectable person. When the narrator goes to look for Bartleby someone describes him as “the silent man” due to his passive resistance to do anything people want him to do (21). The narrator soon begins to see Bartleby as a spirit whom has overall laid melancholy over the area after a while so he decides to leave Bartleby which is when he losses his last little bit of faith in humanity (Friedman 54). The narrator tells us that Bartleby had been removed from the “Dead Letter Office because of a “change in administration”

Men and women are faced with inevitable walls as they go through their daily lives, the strength of their character is derived by how they tackle these walls. Herman Melville gives us a glimpse at how walls can eventually destroy us if we give into them. In his short story, Bartleby the Scrivener, the narrator tells the story of a clerk he once employed, Bartleby. At first, Bartleby seemed to be the perfect employee, but he eventually began to shirk his work and depart into himself. Through the narrative, the narrator gives his account of how he dealt with Bartleby and gives the reader a look at the walls Bartleby dealt with in part of his life. The walls Bartleby continuously encounters throughout the text are a symbol of his isolation

Herman Melville, the author of Bartleby, The Scrivener, was born in 1819 and published his novella in 1853 (Biography.com Editors). In his novella, a successful lawyer of Wall Street hires a scrivener, named Bartleby, who begins the story as a very good worker, and then he declines to work by saying “I’d prefer not to” to the commands given to him. After Bartleby refuses to leave his firm, The Lawyer moves his firm to a different location to abandon Bartleby, who is arrested are placed in prison where he eventually dies from starvation. Melville’s intended audience was the readers of Putnam’s Monthly Magazine literate enough to understand his message. Writing for Putnam’s Monthly “enabled him to reach a large number of readers receptive to his literary interests and social concerns” (Talley 81). This time period also marks the beginning of a new idealistic philosophy. The philosophy of Transcendentalism arose in the 1830s in the eastern United States as a reaction to intellectualism (“Transcendentalism”). Its adherents yearned for intense spiritual experiences and sought to transcend the purely material world of reason and rationality (“Transcendentalism”). Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were two of the most famous and influential Transcendentalists (“Transcendentalism”). Three of the more prominent characteristics of Transcendentalists are disobedience, isolation, and nonmaterialism. Thoreau supported disobedience in his essay titled “Essay on Civil Disobedience.” Emerson stressed the importance of isolation in his works “Self Reliance” and “Nature.” This movement embraced a belief for a so-called “higher reality” that could not be found in reason, sense, or materials (“Transcendentalism”). Melville was well aware of this new philosophy, and it caught his interest. “Nay, I do not oscillate in Emerson’s rainbow, but prefer rather to hang myself in mine own halter than swing in any other man’s swing. Yet I think Emerson is more than a brilliant fellow (“Melville’s Reflections”). In Bartleby, The Scrivener, Herman Melville persuades his audience that Transcendentalism is not a rational approach to life by creating the character of Bartleby, who exhibits the characteristics

Herman Melville’s short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener” reveals different themes such as isolation and human morality test. In the story, the narrator runs a law firm and has a new Scrivener [Bartleby] who the narrator describes as“ the strangest I ever saw or heard of” (661). For the first few days, Bartleby is seen to be working fine, however, one day Bartleby just responds with “I would prefer not to” when anyone assigns a task to Bartleby (674). The real problems start to arise when Bartleby sleeps and eats at the office while denying to work or leave. The narrator illustrates the two main themes of human morals and isolation throughout the story with the use of biblical references to Bartleby as a leper and shows symbolism of the

In “Bartleby, the Scrivener” the author, Herman Melville, uses indirect references to hint to many historical, literary, and biblical events. “Bartleby, the Scrivener” contains many allusions about important events that help connect this fictional story to actual events in Melville’s time period, before, and beyond. Melville uses allusions frequently throughout “Bartleby, the Scrivener” to help build connections with the real world and the fictitious world of this short story.

This lack of information is amplified onto the reader and even before his death, Bartleby is already a haunting figure in the text. Interestingly, Bartleby is the complete opposite of the narrator, in that we know a great deal about the life of the narrator, but almost nothing about Bartleby. The narrator is also shown to be a man with purpose, though self-serving, whereas Bartleby exists as an aimless being. “He ran a day and night line, copying by sun-light and by candle-light. I should have been quite delighted with his application, had he been cheerfully industrious. But he wrote on silently, palely, mechanically” (Melville 6).

Bartleby, the Scrivener, is a story written by Herman Mellvile. It is about a successful lawyer who hires a homeless, depressed man named Bartleby to transcribe documents for him. The narrator of this story is the lawyer. Throughout the story, Bartleby declines at his job, saying he would “prefer not” to perform his duties. Eventually, the lawyer learns about Bartleby’s homelessness by discovering he has been living in the office. After a while, the lawyer feels it would be best for the business to just move to a different office, so he does. To his surprise, Bartleby follows him there. Bartleby ends up getting arrested and eventually dies while in prison. This story has great meaning to it. The main character displays a great character of

In Herman Melville's short story, Bartleby, the Scrivener, the narrator's attitude towards Bartleby is constantly changing, the narrator's attitude is conveyed through the author's use of literary elements such as; diction-descriptive and comical, point of view-first person, and tone-confusion and sadness.

I should have been quite regulated with his application, had he been cheerfully industrious. But he wrote on silently, palely, mechanically." (Melville 9). This nature of working disturbed the employer because he noticed the machine-like style of Bartleby's. Bartleby's lack of human qualities bothered the narrator, as he did later become concerned about Bartleby's condition and began to inquire of his past.

Bartleby, the main character in this story, starts out a worker in the dead letter office in Washington. Exposing someone to a depressed situation

(Melville 1117-1118). Much like in Young Goodman Brown, the protagonist is forever changed, as the recent events have brought him face to face with darkness. Melville portrays Bartleby as corpse-like throughout the piece, and his possible employment at the dead letter office shows how closely acquainted the narrator has become with death by the story’s end. The narrator’s final exclamation is to be seen by the reader as entirely justified, given the grim nature of the previous events. Melville leaves the story rather open, encouraging the reader to question the extents of their moral duties, and the effects they may

George Edward Woodberry, author of the Heart of Man, published in 1899, emphasized the significance of the role of the individual as an active and equal partner in American democratic rule: The doctrine of the equality of mankind by virtue of their birth as men, with its consequent right to equality of opportunity for self-development as a part of social justice, establishes a common basis of conviction, in respect to man, and a definite end as one main object of the State; and these elements are primary in the democratic scheme. Liberty is the next step, and is the means by which that end is secured. It is so cardinal in democracy to strive for a balance between the individual and the mass, so that the identification of the common man

What motivates you to go to work everyday? What motivates you to dress the way you do? What motivates you to be reasonable when it comes to normal requests? Ah, the ultimate question in need of an answer: Who determines what is reasonable and normal, and should we not determine these matters for ourselves? Chaos would result, you say, if every individual were granted that freedom. Yet, we all do have that freedom, and Herman Melville (1819-1891) through the interpretation of a man who prefers to follow his own path in "Bartleby, the Scrivener", subjectively conveys the mental anguish he experienced as a writer and man when the literary world attempted to steal that freedom.