There are many ways someone can interpret “Bartleby the Scrivener”. I think throughout the story the narrator (the Lawyer) is the more sympathetic character.
The lawyer, although an active member of society, alienates himself by forming walls from his own egotistical and materialistic character. The lawyer asserts, "All who know me consider me an eminently safe man" (Melville 131). The narrator is a very methodical and prudent man and has learned patience by working with others, such as Turkey, Ginger Nut, and Nippers. However, the lawyer's constant concern with his own self-approval cheapens his benevolence toward Bartleby. In fact, the lawyer is not able to see the desperate plight of Bartleby due to his unwavering concern of what the scrivener can do for the lawyer's self-approval instead of what he can do for Bartleby. In this sense, the lawyer's "wall" is a sort of safety net for his own ego. He does not allow Bartleby's irrationality to affect him because he does not believe that such a thing exists or matters. His materialistic sense does not acknowledge Bartleby's mental p...
In the beginning of each story, characters are both shown as “ideal” characters in that their characteristics give the characters their first perceived amiableness. In “Bartleby the Scrivener” Melville uses distinguishing characteristics to solely represent Bartleby from the others in the story. He enters the story first, as a response to an advertisement for a position as a scrivener in a law office. Melville states, “A motionless, young man one morning stood upon my office threshold, the door being open for it was summer. I can see that figure now – pallidly neat, pitiably respectable, incurably forlorn!” (Meyer 149). Here he makes it known that just by seeing Bartleby’s presence when he first enters the law office; he is exactly what the unnamed lawyer was inquiring about. He was by far unlike other characters in the story. He had no vices or hang ups, the first presence and his stature, he came their wiling and ready to ...
Bartleby, the Scrivener, a story of lawyer and scrivener, questions like: What is worth living for in the world? What does society value or shape, what it means to be successful or of worth in the world that is inhabited? This is done through the various implications of Bartleby’s actions and responses, as well as the lawyer’s, and the descriptions and imagery of the environment. Walls in the story represent the entrapment, a blockade of sorts to prevent focus from wandering elsewhere. Bartleby in the story shares an office with the lawyer/narrator but their line of sight is blocked by a wall set up to separate them and is placed in the corner of the room, against another wall and his desk is facing a window that again, faces a wall.
Bartleby demonstrates behaviours indicative of depression, the symptoms he has in accordance with the DSM-IV are a loss of interest in activities accompanied by a change in appetite, sleep, and feelings of guilt (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, 320). Very shortly after Bartleby begins his work as a Scrivener he is described by the narrator as having done “nothing but stand at his window in his dead-wall revery”. (Melville, 126) In contrast, Bartleby had previously been described as a very hard worker and this process of doing increasingly less shows how his a diminishing sense of interest both in his work but also of the perception others have of him. It is also noted that included in this lack of interest is a social withdrawal (DSM—IV, 321) which corresponds well to Bartleby in that his workspace becomes known as his “hermitage”. During small talk which included Bartleby he says that he “would prefer to be left alone”. (Melville, 120) Bartleby only emerges from his hermitage when called upon and quickly returns when faced with confrontation.
This can be seen in how the narrator and other lawyers never want to do anything that harms themselves or their reputation. Melville shows us this side of the lawyers when they come to the narrator to help rid themselves of Bartleby and they state, “Every body is concerned; clients are leaving the offices; some fears are entertained of a mob; something you must do, and that without delay.” Then, the narrator decides to help not out of the goodness of his heart but because he is “fearful then of being exposed to the papers.” All the lawyers have no true concerns of what happens to Bartleby as long as he is out of their way. This helps to give the reader some insight into how the law is there to attempt to keep people formed to the society intended where everyone has there place to help society run smoothly and if someone doesn’t conform to this society, they are told that they are breaking the law and must be imprisoned. Therefore, the lawyers decide to call the police on Bartleby and have him thrown in jail for nothing other than his
The narrator's initial self-characterization is important to the story. He is a "safe" man, one who takes few risks and tries above all to conform to societies norms (Melville 1109). The most pragmatic concerns of financial security and ease of life are his priorities. He has made himself perfectly at home in the modern economy: he works as a lawyer dealing with rich men's legal documents. He is therefore a complement or a double to Bartleby in many ways.
He starts to disconnect himself by refusing to do work given to him by his boss, this comes from his desire to be complacent, which we find out when he says “I like to be stationary,” when talking to the lawyer (127). Bartleby continues to change throughout the story, as he goes from being an employee who won’t do his work, to never leaving the office and essentially making it his home. According to Todd Giles, “Bartleby's silence establishes distance,” meaning that he becomes so out of place that people stop expecting of him (Giles, 2007). What this causes is the need for Bartleby to be removed from the Wall Street Office. The lawyer tries in many different ways to do so, and even offers him more money than he is owed if he will quit. Bartleby refuses and continues to stay in the building, doing nothing, detached from the world around him. Eventually the lawyer changes offices due to Bartleby and leaves him there for the next buyer. Bartleby is forced out by the new owner, and in time it is told the police he is a vagrant and he is thrown into jail. Bartleby’s story ends
McCall focuses his argument within the way in which Melville has written Bartleby, The Scrivener, he goes into detail about the comical aspects within the story and uses Melville’s description of Bartleby’s saying “I prefer not to,’ he respectfully and slowly said, and mildly disappeared.” (272). McCall suggests that the adverbs Melville uses, “respectfully” , “slowly” and “mildly” , “create[s] a leisurely little excursion into the uncanny” (279). I agree that the lawyer must have had some wit and good intentions in making the claim about Bartleby up to a point, I cannot accept this fully because many people still believe that the lawyer is unreliable. Most critics within the majority, as McCall reinstates, “believe, “the lawyer is “self-satisfied”, “pompous”…”a smug fool” who is ‘terribly unkind to a very sick man’ “(2660. I disagree with the idea that the lawyer was unkind and Bartleby was sick. The lawyer was fascinated by Bartleby’s responses to the job, and Bartleby, I feel knew exactly what he was doing in stating his responses. McCall acknowledges that “these cure two central problems in the story: the nature of Bartleby’s illness and the lawyer’s capacity to understand it,”
Melville intends something less black and white with more gray shading. Melville uses dramatic irony and grim humor in “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street. This is to show the reader how the Lawyer assumes he is a safe, successful and powerful man with extensive control in his polite society until he hires a man named Bartleby. This relationship is slowly revealed to be quite a conundrum for the Lawyer and the reader. Melville shows how the Lawyer never had any power or control over Bartleby but quite the opposite; Bartleby held all the power and control in this relationship. I will explore the important of the power struggle and the fight to maintain control between the Lawyer and Bartleby.
Bartleby, the Scrivener brings to light the outcome of a social outcast in a conformist society. One man’s attempt of individuality in a world of conformity ended in a tragic demise. Normally, a home would not be thought to take form as an office or a prison; however, it is the person who takes up the residence that makes the home. A home is often associated as homely and comfortable, but a prison is none of that. In the bleak prison, Bartleby attempts to defy societal expectations, but in the end led to his death. The prison beseeches the sentimentality of the inevitable doom for the nonconformist outcast. Death becomes a spiritual gloom spreading through the daunting prison.
In Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener” we are introduced to a capitalist world, a capitalist world in which an economic system controlled by private owners with the goal of making profit in the market economy exist. The story is narrated by a man mostly known as “The Lawyer”, the “elderly man” who seeks God’s acceptance by his so called “kindness” shown to his employees (Melville1483). He only sees them as property clearly shown by the following words he uses “myself, my employees, my business, my chambers and general surroundings” (Melville 1484). He tries so hard to be good but one can see through his cloak and find the real person he is, one who seeks good for oneself only. He is a fake in search of what he wants and doing it at no cost. Is his story really about helping Bartleby because he is a good person?
One man against the majority population is never a fair match, which brings into question the future of Bartleby. Once before we have questioned the Lawyers actions in the basis of moral and ethical values. The lawyer being the mayor leader in this “story world” that Melville has created, has the final say in Bartleby’s faith. John Matteson in his journal discusses this same issue and explains Bartleby’s faith with the following analysis:
Melville’s use of verbal irony allows for a deeper understanding of Bartleby’s character. Bartleby states that he would rather be assigned a position that is not as confined as a clerk; however, in reality, his behavior indicates that he prefers to be isolated. The narrator cannot understand why Bartleby expresses a disliking for confinement when he keeps to himself the majority of his time. As he
His efforts though are fruitless because he was not able to get to Bartleby and never truly understood him, even in prison as the man eventually dies of starvation. Although after his death the lawyer does learn of Bartleby’s previous and listless job at a ‘Dead Letter Office’ which made the lawyer sympathize for him and wonder if that job is what made Bartleby so distant. Bartleby was a loner who distanced himself from everyone, even in death, he was aloof and never interacted with anyone which is not considered normal human behavior because humans are supposed to be social. This story went a little deeper and gave the idea of humanity as a whole being apathetic towards each other, because only the lawyer showed any sort of humane concern for Bartleby while the others cared less. Bartleby himself displayed apathetic behavior as he showed little to no care for how his behavior affected others or even himself. Outside in the world, many people who are stressed out and constantly working tend to only focus on themselves and have little to no care for other people most of the time. It’s another negative view on humanity, but at the same time it’s not that wrong, as society made by humans also makes others so busy and stuck in tedious schedules that they gradually become more jaded and some even become distant and
The story of Bartleby was a very interesting story open for many different interpretations. Melville does and excellent job building suspension towards different thoughts as to what caused Bartleby to become an emotionless incapable worker. Here is evidence throughout the story to reflect the kindheartedness of the narrator. After reading this work the last quote “Ah Bartleby, Ah humanity” stood out as a cry of sadness for failing to understand and further assist Bartleby. After the numerous attempts He describes himself an elder lawyer that has his own office with a total of four employees including Bartleby. The narrator takes the time to learn the qualities of each individual not just on a performance basis however, personally as well.
“Bartleby. The Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street,” written by great American writer Herman Melville, entailed the story of a man who eventually lost the interest do things as simple as living. This short story by Melville carries a theme of isolation, physically and mentally, and what Herman Melville experienced in his life was mental isolation. The idea of Bartleby in this story is the reflection of Melville, a man who was lonely on the inside just as Bartleby was.