Wall Street And Herman Melville's 'Bartleby The Scrivener'

“Bartleby the Scrivener,” a short story by Herman Melville,b describes the narrator’s experience employing an introverted and seemingly isolated scrivener in his office on Wall Street, the financial district of New York. However, the idea of “Wall” Street can be read more literally, seeing as the scrivener, Bartleby, seems to find himself constantly surrounded by walls. Bartleby is walled in, not only by physical walls, but by walls he puts up himself in order to preserve his isolation, and by the pressures of the capitalistic society he is forced to live in.

Occupy Wall Street is a political movement that was created in 2011 to address income inequality in the United States. Protesters involved in this movement hoped to bring attention to the unfair distribution of power and influence that the wealthiest 1% of

Occupy Wall Street has been called many things including: unfocused, ungrounded, and silly. Others coin it as “America’s first internet-era movement” (Rushkoff). In quintessence, Occupy Wall Street is a series of protests and demonstrations that oppose the influence that corporate greed has on American Democracy. The protestors manipulate marches and nonviolent demonstrations to express their dissatisfaction with the state of American Politics and economy. This relates to the political science concepts of power, performance democracy, and protective democracy.

On September 17, 2011 hundreds of people began to gather in Zuccotti Park, New York which is Wall Street’s financial district under the banner “Occupy Wall Street”: these three simple words are causing an uproar in America (Engler). Additionally, these three words happen to be protesting the current status of America’s financial condition. With the economy in America being as terrible as it is, and the unemployment rate skyrocketing, it is absolutely necessary for some sort of change to occur. The Occupy Wall Street protesting is most positively a progressive step for the economic state in America and it is a step in the right direction.

The Occupy New Hampshire movement stemmed from Occupy Wall Street, which began in September 2011. Tr.:16. The occupy movement generally consisted of staying in one place until the grievances of the participants are addressed. Tr.:33. Occupy Wall Street sought to address problems such as economic disparity, the growing gap between the classes, and the influence of money on politics. Tr.:13. Every Occupy movement focused on different issues and grievances, usually determined at the first general assembly. Tr.:111.

Bartleby’s true strength appears during the retelling of his story by the narrator. The fact the narrator has been affected by Bartleby’s bold rejection, and is greatly preoccupied by the reasoning of his actions, or in Bartleby’s case lack of actions, highlights how strong Bartleby’s impression truly was. Through his idleness, Bartleby protested against corruptive capitalism and materialism, essentially all that Wall Street

In early October, OWS got a major boost when prominent labor unions joined protesters in a march from Foley Square to the encampment at Zuccotti Park. Labor leaders have joined the movements in hopes that OWS can act as a counter weight to the Tea Parties growing support, and help push Congress and President Obama to put more focus on job creation. In the protest’s fourth week it gained the support of some major democratic leaders and party fund-raisers, including a top ally of President Obama. It has been said that the embrace of the protests by democrats is a clear sign of their desire to align with disenchanted Americans. On the other hand, many democrats are wary of the movement pushing the party dangerously to the left as the Tea Party movement has often pushed republicans to the right. President Obama has spoken sympathetically of the protests, stating they are a reflection of the frustrations that struggling Americans have felt for a long time. Vice President Joe Biden and Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi have voiced similar opinions.

Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” is compared to the article “Occupy Wall Street in perspective” by Craig Calhoun. Both writings share a common idea of protest by “preferring not to”. The purpose of “Bartleby the Scrivener” is to give insight on the life of ordinary people on Wall Street. While the purpose of “OWS” is to give insight on ordinary peoples lives during the protest. The article “OWS” shows why Bartleby in “Bartleby, the Scrivener” prefers not to and makes him a protestor through four main relations being setting, the 99% vs. 1% contrast, passive resistance, and how both were encouraged through police interference.

In 2008, the United States of America (US) experienced a financial crisis which affected the rest of the world. Investment banks and Wall Street crashed. It left a good portion of US citizens in debt, unemployed, homeless, etc. As a result, Occupy Wall Street became a movement to demonstrate that the people have had enough and started protesting and voicing their opinions. In terms of globalization, the development of ‘Occupy’ movements have altered the notion of social movements to which it is not just about highlighting and fighting for causes, rather it desires to place the power back into the hands of the people. The term ‘movements’ has become a catchall definition about the mobilization of people from short term causes to longterm

One claim is that corporations have been given unfair advantages over the American people. From being exempt from taxes to being able to bypass giving health insurance benefits to employees, there are many loopholes the government has created between themselves and the corporations. Both the OWS and the Tea Party seem to agree on this point. But are the corporations to blame for that? Sure, the American people are suffering from this greed, but the corporations are capitalizing from what is being given to them. And from what these protestors are stating, it appears that they would do the same too. Seeing the need for change throughout the United States, the” 99 % of Americans” are stepping up. They are determined to make a change in today’s society and refuse to let government cronyism and corporate greed lead to the further downfall of the economy and another depression. And although corporate greed is a major problem in our society, it is not always the case. Corporations do not always end up on top and many have gone bankrupt since over the last several years.

On a brisk September day in 2011, in the commercial district of Manhattan Island, a minute protest in Liberty Square began against the fiscal atrocities committed by economic establishments that led to the financial crisis and subsequent economic recession in 2007 and 2008. Over the course of the month, the movement protesting the miscarriage of justice and democracy following the economic catastrophe and the overall inequitable and unfair wealth distribution diffused to over 100 American cities as well as 1,500 cities worldwide. The revolutionary movement would be called Occupy Wall Street and through occupying and protesting the symbolic location of the financial elite, Wall Street, the crusade aimed “to fight back against the corrosive

Do film versions of written words hold onto the original author’s message or do they give them an injustice? This research will look at the short story "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A story of Wall Street and compare it to Jonathan Parker's 2001 film version "Bartleby." Herman Melville wrote the short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A story of wall street” in 1853, narrating a tale from a lawyer about his strange behaved office clerk Bartleby. In 2001 Johnathan Parker of Parker productions turned that story into a film, “Bartleby.” However, Jonathan Parker makes many changes from the classic original wrote by Herman Melville in 1853. Even though many differences in Jonathan Parker's film version of "Bartleby" have been found to change the

Occupy Wall Street’s opposing expression of the disparity between the wealthy and the poor may have begun in good faith by utilizing the Freedom of Speech and General Assembly amendment rights, but the strategies some of the protestors have demonstrated are resulting in adverse reactions against themselves. The Occupy Wall Street movement will assuredly cost affected cities in the double digits of millions of dollars. Increases in payroll, overtime, and business expenses will inadvertently backfire and increase layoffs. The burden the protestors physically place on a city is weighing down an already financially stressed situation. The mass of people and their tent lifestyle is causing a drain on city finances, and alas, the money is coming

I’ve never felt this urgency of popular resistance in America before. Not even at occupy.” Of course, she is referring to the Occupy Wall Street movement of 2011, which garnered considerable global attention and massive crowds of protesters.

Contemporary civil disobedience, however, is entirely different. That is not to say that the art has been lost; it means only that, rather than focusing on specific