Essay about Individual Freedom in Melville's Bartleby, the Scrivener

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

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.

Jonathan Edwards’ memorable sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, was first delivered in 1741 in Enfield, Connecticut during the peak of New England’s first Great Awakening. When he delivered this sermon with horrid descriptions of hell, the congregation listened. It left a dramatic effect on the listeners leaving them weeping, and some even considering suicide! Jonathan Edwards conveyed his message to turn their lives back to religion and repent to their god by his use of tone, emotional appeal, and imagery.

But the reality is it doesn't matter at all because the sole motive behind the usage of your creative faculty and reason is the extraction of joy, the happiness which is generated by the moment of performing that work regardless of its further recognition. Our best and happiest moments are unrecognized. They are too great to be shared. The moment of happiness is personal, self-motivated, contained and sufficient. Although it isn't a requisite for joy indeed it adds fuel to fire; fire a creator bore and visionary pursues in his heart. Freedom is a precondition required for every creation. The need for it can be determined by seeing a society which is destitute of freedom such as Ayn Rand's Anthem. Anthem portrays a procrustean society with principles of Byzantine complexity. They had been robbed of their sense of freedom. From cradle to grave their heads are bowed in front of great WE. The apocalyptic society has reached to a primitive stagnation and indeed the society

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.

Is the narrator of “Bartleby” a selfish or an unselfish man? Defend your answer with evidence from the story. The narrator of Bartleby is not a selfish man. Instead, he was the type of man who tried to do everything for someone who was in need. He tried his best to be there for one of his workers when he knew he was not well. Bartleby was a man who was a great worker. He was a man who knew what he was doing and what needed to be done from him. He was extremely caught up with his work, as he had nothing else to do and no one to be with. The story changed when Bartleby's attitude about everything changed. The first thing he did was he prefer not to do what his boss asked him to do. He gave no explanation why but made it clear that he won't

Bartleby- The Scrivener In Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener”, the author uses several themes to convey his ideas. The three most important themes are alienation, man’s desire to have a free conscience, and man’s desire to avoid conflict. Melville uses the actions of an eccentric scrivener named Bartleby, and the responses of his cohorts, to show these underlying themes to the reader. The first theme, alienation, is displayed best by Bartleby’s actions. He has a divider put up so that the other scriveners cannot see him, while all of them have desks out in the open so they are full view of each other, as well as the narrator. This caused discourse with all of the others in the office. This is proven when Turkey exclaims, “ I

Melville explained in his essay "Hawthorne and his Mosses": "this great power of blackness in him derives its force from its appeals to that Calvinistic sense of Innate Depravity and Original Sin, from whose visitations, in some shape or other, no deeply thinking mind is always and wholly free." Melville is claiming that this is a part of Hawthorne the man, but this undoubtedly carries over into his work as well.

"He can neither believe, nor be comfortable in his unbelief; and he is too honest and courageous not to try to do one or the other. If he were a religious man, he would be one of the most truly religious and reverential; he has a very high and noble nature, and better worth immortality than most of us" (Braswell 3). Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote these words in his journal in 1856, speaking of his old friend Herman Melville. Melville did indeed find himself stranded between belief and unbelief, torn between the stringent and widely accepted Calvinist doctrine of New England, and an analytical skepticism that could not satisfy his desire for more. He wanted to embrace the whole of God, but every portrayal that the churches around him had to present was skewed, lacking, or oppressive. Moby-Dick, Melville 's epic novel-that-isn 't, served as an outlet through which he could work through his fears and frustrations regarding the inflexible doctrines of Calvinism, particularly his unabating anxiety concerning the doctrines of predestination and reprobation. By choosing to tell the story of the reprobate instead of the elect, Melville causes his readers to reexamine the unfathomable paradox of God 's simultaneous mercy and wrath.

I didn’t know that such a vague phrase could be the glue to a whole story. While trying to wrap my head around the short story titled “Bartleby”, I researched the theories of Melville’s intention by writing “Bartleby”. I didn’t believe myself capable of trying to guess the meaning of the story on my own because I lack the historical context or Melville’s complete life to write such a complexing short story.

In 1851, after reading the information from Owen Chase’s diary and selecting information from his own experience, Herman Melville wrote Moby-Dick, a story about a one-legged captain in search of the whale responsible for devouring his leg, which is considered one of the greatest novels in American literature. Herman Melville, born on August 1, 1819, admired every aspect of literature from a young age. Having lost his father when he was only 13, he was forced to go to work to provide for his family. Writing wasn’t a priority for the young Melville but it was definitely inspiring to him. Herman was influenced by many authors such as: William Shakespeare, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and more. However, because he had to work rather than write, he held many positions such as: teacher, bank clerk, cabin boy, whaler, and finally, in 1846, author. While he was a whaler for three years, encountering many personal events on the sea and on strange islands, he heard a story about events from a whaling ship during 1819, the Essex, which influenced his writing of Moby-Dick. His novel wasn’t highly regarded initially, especially in England, where it was originally published. It failed to include the epilogue in the first edition, therefore making it a target of great criticism. Future editions, including the American, did include the epilogue. Although critics admired Melville’s diction, style, and plot, the story didn’t appeal to

When Melville wrote and published Moby Dick, he referred to it as a “‘wicked book,’ and his contemporaries agreed” (Hutchins 18). It was wicked for its studies in human nature and the heretical challenge of God and Christianity. The theme of religion in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick is not something that can simply be looked over. Religion is so apparent in the novel that readers have spent decades debating over the views of religion Melville represents. Some have come to believe that Captain Ahab is a representation of humans trying to challenge God and failing. God, in this case, is Moby Dick the indestructible whale. While many despised Melville’s adaptation of Christianity in his novel, there is an argument that Melville has created a Third Testament which can be added to the Bible as if it were the next step in the teachings of Christianity. Zachary Hutchins argues that Melville is a sort of Jesus figure, meant to teach new progressive ideas of

It is not everyday that a man is able to write himself into history, only the greatest and most daring writers are able to break the threshold of humanity and ascend into the history books. Growing up with two of the most influential grandfathers who were both Revolutionary heroes, Herman Melville grew into a great writer. Bankruptcy and the loss of his father at age 12 had such a big impact on Herman that he was taken out of school and forced to work. He self-taught himself and briefly went back to school to study Engineering (Reiff 9-11). During his early 20s, Melville was unable to get a job in engineering. He faced economic hardships which influenced him to go on voyages as an escape from his problems. Sailing consisted of relaxing and romanticizing with beautiful islanders despite the horrors of military punishments he experienced (Reiff 13). From 1844 to 1857, Melville spent his years as a full time writer to gain prestige and money while supporting his family (American Experience). Melville became known for one of his novels, Moby Dick, which was dedicated to Nathaniel Hawthorne. Moby Dick is known as one of the Greatest American Novels because the story had an exciting plot, philosophical statements, many comparisons, and symbols making the novel very complex. The complexity of the literary writing symbolized romance, particularly the romance of the sea. The novel was based on the life of a sailor who experienced a tragic voyage and a white whale named Moby Dick.

In Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, the harpooners appear to be the most crucial sailors to the Pequod’s whaling journey. Without their unmatched physical ability and their resourcefulness, the hunt for whales would become a task that is beyond the rest of the Pequod’s crew’s capabilities. However, none of these men are of European or American origins, even though the majority of the rest of the crew have a European or American background. The harpooners, Queequeg, Tashtego, and Daggoo, are of various backgrounds from across the globe. Even though these men make a notable contribution to the success’ of the Pequod, Melville highlights their true significance to be representatives of the injustices that are said and acted upon minorities. The apparency of these social injustices work to promote that idea that a person’s true worth is based on their actions, not their skin color or background.

Bartleby chooses to go against the norm by staying in the office while living and breathing work, because he seems to think its wrong to earn a great deal of money with little expense to himself. In class we touched on Bartleby’s passive aggressiveness and how he doesn’t deliberately fight against he used that phrase, “he prefers not to.” His progressive passivity is his objection to partake in the actions of the common traditions. He is going against the rules, but is also a mystery, because no one understands him nor does Melville provide any information