Comparing Barttleby, The Scrivener : A Story Of Wall Street And Bartleby

Craig Calhoun’s article “Occupy Wall Street in perspective” comes into great comparison with Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street". They are both written works about protest and conflict. There is not a various amount of movement in either section, but there does tend to be the statement of “I would prefer not to” (Melville, 55). In “Bartleby the Scrivener” the readers have to try and understand for themselves why Bartleby would prefer not to since the answer is never given in the text. The article, "OWS" clarifies why Bartleby would prefer not to, in “Bartleby the Scrivener", through the setting, the 99% vs. the 1% contrast, and passive resistance.

In Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener”, the narrator is on the hunt for a new copyist in his office. From what we can tell of our narrator, he is an unambitious, vanilla fellow but still has an air of condescension about him. He always thinks that he knows what is best for his employees, although in actuality, he knows very little. Enter Bartleby: the “incurably forlorn” and “sedate” answer to his prayers (330). Bartleby is a quiet man who gains employment at the law office of our narrator. Overall, he seemed to be a good worker who had a few kinks the narrator thought that he could iron out, but to no avail. At the end of his account, the narrator says “Ah Bartleby, Ah humanity” which suggests that he sees Bartleby as a representation of all people. This is because the narrator thinks of Bartleby and all other people as lesser than him and in need of his help.

“Bartleby, the Scrivener” In the story “Bartleby, the Scrivener, ”we are told a story about Bartleby from the eyes of his boss who is a Lawyer. The readers are told from the Lawyers view about Bartleby instead of about the Lawyer himself, because the ones reading the story can better understand the Lawyers concerns and how Bartleby prefers not to do anything this also keep Bartleby a mystery from what is going on inside of his own head and keeps the readers guessing. Bartleby is known as a flat character and does not change much throughout the story, but he does have a big effect of the Lawyer who is the major or dynamic character he also helps us know more about the minor character which are: Turkey, Nippers, and Hazel Nut. The Lawyer is the dynamic character because he transforms into a selfless man who is more kind and considerate or others, but the Lawyer changes his views and this makes him a round character also.

After reading “Bartleby, The Scrivener” and watching the movie, the immediate thing you catch is the setting. The setting between the book and the movie are completely different. “Bartleby is a clerk in a Wall Street law firm. He is a quiet, respectable, competent scribe who, at first, seems to be a model employee. He is more productive than the other clerks. He works hard. He seldom takes breaks. But there is something odd about him.” (Lantos). This explains a good portion of who Bartleby is in the book, that he is a diligent and steadfast worker. The movie also explains that Bartleby is a great

Literary devices will be a primary source used to compare and contrast the narrative and stylistic choices made in the short story, “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, and the film 2081 directed by Chandler Tuttle. In the film the director is able to express visuals, sounds, and physical characters, to establish a firm idea of how the characters within the story act and feel based on their surroundings and what is happening around them. However, an Author in a short story is reliant on his words alone to paint the picture for the reader to understand the movement of the plot and its impact on the atmosphere. The literary devices used in creating and shaping pieces of literature will heavily impact the point of view of the

A picture is worth a thousand words, that’s the common theme that is increasingly true in our world today. Many movie adaptations of great classic stories and literature works have been created with great visuals. Question is, do the adaptations really carry the same meaning and weight of the original written works or are the adaptions meant to open new perspectives for the audiences? This paper will, through the examining the settings, character, tone and storylines, compare and contrast the book version and movie adaptation of the classic short story " Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street " by Herman Melville.

Textual form is an issue which divide many critiques and audiences. Some view texts as a form being superior and more expressive, whereas others may view film as to be losing its credibility of expression. Never the less it is adamant that through a comparative study of two differing forms exploring similar ideas it becomes clear that one form isn’t always superior over another. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) mirror this thesis. Whilst being

Whenever books are adapted for film, changes inevitably have to be made. The medium of film offers several advantages and disadvantages over the book: it is not as adept at exploring the inner workings of people - it cannot explore their minds so easily; however, the added visual and audio capabilities of film open whole new areas of the imagination which, in the hands of a competent writer-director, can more than compensate.

Before watching the film a viewer schooled in academia must consider how the original text may be altered to comply with Hollywood tradition. Miller goes on to

Bartleby the Scrivener. Characters Analysis In the reading Bartleby the Scrivener its narrator before introducing Bartleby (the main character), he began describing his others three employees that work in the office (Turkey, Nipper and Ginger Nut). The narrator did this with the purpose of show how much he cares about his workers, gave us an idea of the type of person that the author is , and to guide the reader into the understanding his actions later on in the story.

Being wealthy is what the American dream is truly about. It is about striking it rich and being happy with all of the money that you have and everything that you can buy with it. James Gatsby and the poem Barter by Sara Teasdale are perfect representation of the American dream. The poem discusses how wealth can get you everything you want and need in life and Gatsby honestly lives by this moral. With all of the money that Gatsby has, he is able to throw extravagant parties without even thinking about the cost of everything, and he thinks that with all of this money he will get his true love Daisy.

The narrator of “Bartleby, the Scrivener” is a lawyer who is serious about his work and made it his first priority. His assistant Bartleby was a hard worker at first, however, he was distant and did not open up to people as much as he should’ve. This lead to conflict between Bartleby and the narrator. Melville makes the lawyer always ignore his issues which made him unable to directly confront his problems with Bartleby. Nonetheless, the narrator felt like he had this responsibility to look after Bartleby but him being too concerned with himself got in the way of that. After observing Bartleby the narrator’s attitude towards him constantly changes because he didn’t realize that Bartleby’s attitude was a call for help but he was too self-absorbed and didn’t take Bartleby into consideration.

The subtitle “Bartleby, the Scrivener, means an individual (Bartleby) who is a law-copyists. Bartleby is one of the scriveners described by the Melville as the strangest Scrivener that ever existed while scriveners are the law copyists. Melville implies the demonstration of patience with the employees as well as haste in doing work in the business world. When Bartleby joins him in the business, he works so hard and with the haste and the natural expectancy of the instant compliance expects Bartleby to snatch a copy of business from him and proceed with the examination and copying without delay (Reed, Naomi 273). Also when he calls him to examine a small paper with him,

First and foremost, this story is told in the perspective of the lawyer who hires a new copyist named Bartleby. When the narrator hires Bartleby he seemed perfectly capable of

writings not becoming famous til after his death, " he is a strong willed man