Comparing Isolation In Bartleby, The Scrivener And Cathedral

Isolation in Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral”
“Bartleby, the Scrivener” is a short story by Herman Melville published in 1853. It tells the story of Bartleby, an office clerk who one day refuses to do what he is asked. “Cathedral” is a short story by Raymond Carver, published in 1983. The story is told from the point of view of a man whose wife invited an old blind friend of hers to spend the night at their place. In both works, the stories are told from the point of view of a character that observes another isolated character. In “Bartleby,” the eponymous character, by refusing to work, slowly isolates himself from the rest of the world, despite the narrator’s attempts to communicate with him. In Carver’s story, though reader might think that the blind man is the most isolated character because of his physical impairment, it appears that, throughout the story, the narrator himself suffers from isolation. In both stories, the narrators are themselves as isolated as the character they observe. However, the

In the beginning, he appears to be a model employee, doing his job swiftly and without complaint. However, one day, he starts refusing to work, and does not give any other justification than the repeated sentence “I would prefer not to.” This refusal is the beginning of an isolation that only worsens. His employer, who is also the narrator, tries to be comprehensive, but Bartleby’s very presence disturbs him. He perceives Bartleby as someone terribly lonely and this makes him uneasy, as it forces him to reflect upon his own loneliness. Bartleby’s isolation takes a strong physical turn when a “high green folding screen” (page) is installed into the office to “isolate” (same page) him from the narrator’s sight. Bartleby is further isolated by a narrator who ambiguously doesn’t mean any harm, but fails to understand