Examples Of Dehumanization In Bartleby The Scrivener

Essay 2: Dehumanization in Melville and Hawthorne
In Bartleby the Scrivener, the first example of dehumanization that I recognized was that the narrator was giving nick names to his employees based on their quirks. Although this is common in close friendships, in the workplace it seems to denote that the superior only sees you as an object. By not calling a person by their own name subsequently rips them of their recognition and leaves the other bits of their personality blank with only the amount of work they produce the main focus of their existence. I think upon meeting Bartleby, the narrator starts to show a more humanizing character that both positively and negatively affects his life.
We see this in the beginning of the story when

the narrator is explaining that “Turkey” is “in many ways a most valuable person to me, and all the time before twelve o’clock…yet in the afternoon he was disposed , upon provocation, to be slightly rash with his tongue, in fact, insolent” (Melville 1486). The narrator continues, dehumanizing the remaining workers he has “Nippers” and “Ginger Nut”, but oddly ignores their distinct idiosyncrasies… this is where I can see the narrator trying to understand and accept his fellow human being as he does when he finally meets Bartleby. It is this duality of humans and understanding that leads the narrator to become involved on an emotional level with Bartleby even though he is dissatisfied with his work. The narrator tries over and over again to get Bartleby to work even overlooking the fact that he is living out of the office but still Bartleby prefers not to. I think once the Bartleby stopped working the narrator started to see the real qualities ,or lack thereof, that Bartleby had. The narrator began to try to find clues about his life by searching his desk, a labor he had not taken in his other employees. I think if Bartleby had kept working like the others he would have been dehumanized with a nick name and only expected to crunch out tons of work as expected of an employee working on wall street.
Continually, the narrator tries to detach himself from Bartleby by moving his offices, firing him, and even giving him money to persuade him to find another place to live (other than his office) but finds himself , instead, taking an interest in Bartleby’s history and seems to start to care about what happens to him. The narrator ask Bartleby to come to his dwelling until they can figure out what to do next in regard to his employment but of course Bartleby prefers not to. I think this shows extreme compassion and a really positive view of humanity because the narrator is going through a lot of turmoil in his business and emotions with regard to Bartleby but still finds it in his consciences to want to help him.
In the Ministers Black Veil, the dehumanization comes in the form of a black veil that a priest suddenly starts to wear non stop in his town where he preaches.

I think this story shows a more negative view of humanity because of the effect of a little black piece of fabric that changed the attitude the townspeople had for the priest.The parishioners were confused and disturbed that they can no longer see the face of the priest. The veil dehumanizes the priest because the crepe shields his eyes and brings a mysterious tone to the priest himself. The townspeople automatically assumed negativity and that the priest had “changed himself into something awful,…by hiding his face”(Hawthorne 410) even though he had still kept his same demeanor of gentle kindness. This assumption that something evil had arisen from the priest despite his normal behavior and kindness shows that humanity is scared of the unknown and thus will disregard it. I think it was very smart of Hawthorne to use a priest as a subject to the veil because in religion a priest is regarded as pure, heavenly, and divine and thought of with suspicion that the Minister

Hooper.
The veil caused a great bit of controversy among the fellow parishioners but it had laden the priest with a sort of power that attracted people from other cities and towns.

The veil had an expanding effect because it threw “its influence over his whole person and makes him ghost like from head to toe” (Hawthorne 412). The townspeople thought that maybe the priest was hiding something like a dark secret to going as far as concealing his face.
The priest refused over and over again to remove the black veil until his soul had left this earth even denying the woman that he loved to see his face once more before he covered it. People became scared of him..children stopped their games and the parishioners became suspicious of his veil and I think that this showed just how negative the view of the priest had become when he started wearing the black veil.
I think he believed that if he wore the black veil that others would know that he too was a person with secrets and wanted to comfort them “like most other mortals, have sorrows dark enough to be typified by a black veil” (Hawthorne

414).
In his death he protected the veil from being lifted from his face by asserting that everyone around him had a black veil on so why should he be forced to remove his if others don't remove theirs also.
I think both stories showed different views of humanity in that Bartleby, the narrator was struggling with the duality of man and human nature by both wanting Bartleby to leave him alone and also make sure he was okay after he was dismissed from employment. In the Ministers Black Veil, the negative view of humanity is shown by the parishioners because they become afraid of the veil that the priest starts to wear. Little do they know that it symbolizes the sins everyone hides within themselves only he was persecuted and secluded because of the physical veil he wore.