Bartleby, the Hero in Herman Melville’s Short Story Bartleby the Scrivener

The style of this story was not the greatest in the beginning, but got better the further into the story I got. As a reader, I found it very hard to concentrate on the first few pages because it had a very slow start to it. Once Bartleby was introduced, however, it was much easier to concentrate. The author created a great sense of mystery around Bartleby, and that is what pulled me into the story. I wanted to figure out who Bartleby was, where he came from, and why he behaved the

He was able to see that the man he hired was using his office for his own living home. “For the first time in my life a feeling of overpowering stinging melancholy seized me. Before, I had never experienced aught but a not unpleasing sadness.”(Herman Melville, page 320). the narrator is feeling sad for Bartleby, he feels sad that the man who works for him is lonely and has no one to be with. However, as the story keeps going Bartleby refused to do anything. When asked to do something his simple words are, “I prefer not to.” the narrator did not like this and he got mad that he decided to move his business somewhere else. He didn't want to be in charge of Bartleby when the man would not do any work. He was proud of himself for leaving him behind without getting angry but being able to control his anger. “When again I entered my office, lo, a note from the landlord lay upon my desk. I opened it with trembling hands. It informed me that the writer had sent to the police, and had Bartleby remove to the Tombs as a vagrant.” (Herman Melville, page 329). everyone knew that the narrator knew more about Bartleby then they did. They wanted the narrator to be able and do something about Bartleby. As Bartleby was in the Tomb the narrator took time out to go and visit him. The first time he visited him Bartleby ignored him. The narrator out of his good character went to the person who cooks for them and gave him money so he can get Bartleby some good food. As stubborn as

“Since he will not quit me, I must quit him. Ah Bartleby, Ah Humanity.” (Melville 131) This is the key to Bartleby, for it indicates that he stands as a symbol for humanity. This in turn functions as a commentary on society and the working world, for Bartleby is a seemingly homeless, mentally scrivener who gives up on the prospect of living life, finally withdrawing himself from society. However, by doing so Bartleby is attempting to exercise his freewill, for he would “prefer not to” work. His relationship to the narrator (the Lawyer) and the normal progression of life. However, this

“Bartleby, The Scrivener” is a memorable story, by Herman Melville, that is able to keep its readers captivated from beginning to end. How does the author successfully grab the attention of his readers? The author utilized his masterful command of the English language to convey the characters, setting, and plot effectively; and in the midst of all the detailed descriptions Melville have used food and the action of eating as powerful symbols. In the story three of the characters have names that are associated with food, and the main character of study, Bartleby, eventually dies of starvation by choice. Given the setting of the story was in the onset of the second industrial revolution, the coming of the big corporations where Wall

“Bartleby, the Scrivener” is about a lawyer, the narrator, who prides himself in taking in employees who have quirky traits. At the beginning of the story, he employees three men, Turkey, Nippers, and Gingernut, are the names they are known as. Turkey is an older man who drinks heavily during his lunch break, Nippers is younger but described by the narrator as overly ambitious, and Gingernut, is a young boy who runs errands for the office. Turkey and Nippers are scriveners, and the man named Bartleby is hired as a third Scrivener. Bartleby is liked by the lawyer because he is very sedate and respectful. These scrivener’s run copies, and proofread documents for the lawyer, essentially, they do very mundane work daily, in a repetitive fashion. Bartleby begins rejecting his responsibilities at work, stating, “I would prefer not to.” The lawyer gives him a few days and tries again, with the same response, which he responded by trying to persuade his employee to do his work through reasonable reasons. Continuingly he refuses, and the narrator, is forced to slowly accept there is nothing he can do to help Bartleby. The lawyer begins taking him in as his responsibility, giving him multiple chances to do his job, and even accepts him living there, but when enough is enough he gives him six days to leave the office. At the end of his six days, the lawyer gives him his wages plus some extra cash to find somewhere to live. Eventually, his moral character won’t allow him to kick Bartleby out, to the point he picks up his business and moves. Still, Bartleby will not leave the prior office space. He hardly speaks, if he does it is to state something along the lines of, “I’d prefer not…” and he just sort of stares blankly with no

Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street” presents the titular character with a mental impairment that bears many similarities to what is known as depression. Although Bartleby appears to have this disability, it is never confirmed due to the entire view of this character being shaped solely by the perspective of an ignorant narrator. Having only encountered visible, physical disabilities before, the narrator does not know how to respond to a man with an invisible, mental one. Driven mad by Bartleby’s preferred phrase, “I would prefer not to” (Melville 8), the narrator fails to recognize this phrase as what Mitchell and Snyder’s Narrative Prosthesis could label as a subconscious cry for help, and instead tries half-hearted

“Bartleby makes the lawyer question his own life, and eel very troubled, even ashamed, about it. Solitary young men, aloof and fastidious, are too much trouble “because of the extravagant demand they make in human nature.” (McCall, p. 7) (Emerson, p.

The character of Bartleby in Herman Melville’s novella “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street” is a person who refuses to become an object in capitalistic society. Initially, he is the perfect example of the objectification and mechanization of humans in the workplace. In essence, Bartleby is a machine that continually produces. Ultimately, he begins to resist the mind numbing repetition of his tasks and the mechanization of his life. The other main character, the narrator, is a facilitator of the capitalistic machine. He dehumanizes his employees by ensuring that their free will is denied in the workplace using objectifying nicknames, providing a workplace devoid of human touch and connection,; and perpetuating mechanized, repetitive work. Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener” shows the dehumanizing effects of working in a capitalistic environment and ultimately suggests that one must conform to a standard way of life or will cease to exist.

Herman Melville is an acclaimed author of the American Renaissance period and his most commendable works include “Bartleby, the Scrivener”. The story of “Bartleby” is not only a revelation of the business world of the mid-19th century but at the same time, it is also the manifestation of the emerging capitalistic lifestyle of perhaps New York’s most prominent street, Wall Street. Bartleby is a rather peculiar yet captivating figure. Bartleby’s life and death contribute to a sort of enigma for the reader and his employer. “Bartleby, the Scrivener” is a story that criticizes the monotonous day-to-day cycle that the modern working man is forcibly put in by society. With that being said, the death of Bartleby not only serves as a reflection

He uses his employment as a means of escaping social conventions through his monotonous statement “I would prefer not” (Melville 1998, p. 198), living a life of choice and preference in a world where preference is non-existent. Bartleby represents a new form of humanity where an individual has the right to choice rather than living a life of routine through social constraints, defying all forms of society’s restrictions in order to reveal his true desires.

From the way, the author tells Bartleby’s story, we can tell that his tone reflects these two feelings and it successfully speaks to us the Narrator’s courtesy and his emotional involvement in the events that are written in the story. Through the narrator’s perspective, we can identify with narrator and see Bartelby as both pathetic and a little frightening, like the narrator does.

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

In a society where work is portrayed as needed, individuals that prefer not to are seen as rebels and enemies of the capitalist way of life. I think that Bartleby is a victim of this capitalist way of life, him and the Queen are cultural rebels, they represent the absurdity of work and the necessity of identity.

Melville’s short story Bartleby the scrivener, describes the narrator as an elderly old man that wishes to give details of the life of Bartleby the scrivener. Bartleby was a completely emotionless human being who refuses to interact with the world around him. These actions shape the short story, picking at its viewers mind as to why Bartleby is disconnected from society. Bartleby worked in the dead letters office this may have triggered his inability to relate to the world around him. This motionless docility covered his inner troubles that he withheld from the world. The narrator states “I have known very many of them, professionally and privately, and if I pleased, could relate divers histories, at which good-natured gentlemen might smile, and sentimental souls might weep.” (Melville’s). In this he means that many persons might choose to smile as they find pleasure in reading “Bartleby” as much as those who might weep because they find the short story to be discouraging. In the 1970’s adaptation is one of those sentimental souls that the narrator is talking about in that it weeps for Bartleby, however the narrator brings the humor to life as he becomes speechless to Bartleby preferring not to do his work.

Sometimes even the richest people in the world are not satisfied. On the other hand, though, some penniless people are much content with what they have. This indicates one should not base his contentment on the amount of money they have, but rather what makes them happy or their inner worth. Charles Dickens’s “Great Expectations” is a world set in Victorian England, where the main character, Pip receives money from a secret benefactor and travels from his home on the marshes to respected society in Britain. His father figure Joe Gargery is a loyal, and forgiving man, but Pip loses connection with him when he goes to Britain. In Britain, he meets his mentor who will teach him the ways of a true ‘Gentleman’, Matthew Pocket. Both of these men are content with what they have. Charles Dickens creates the characters of Joe Gargery, and Matthew Pocket to elucidate the theme that one’s inner worth too can serve as an aspect for fulfillment.