Ideas And Conclusions In Herman Melville's Bartleby

Sometimes when we read a story it doesn’t end in the way that we like or expect it to. Because of this we are left with the oh so common “cliffhanger” wonder what happened to a character or how the story goes on. This can be very frustrating but is probably the best way for an author to leave things. Sometimes, even though we don’t know what is happening, it is the best thing for the story. The not knowing what happened conclusion leaves the reader to think about what they believe happened and also if there is a sequel it ensures the reader will buy the next part of the tale. A great example, of how leaving the story with no conclusion, is shown in Herman Melville’s “Bartleby” making it even more clear that a story without a conclusion is

Still it stands though that many readers believe not only that a story without a conclusion is the most entertaining but also has other advantages. One of those advantages are the development of critical thinking skills and learning how to infer what will happen because of the missing end of a story. Because of this colleges might even prefer for their students to be introduced to books and stories with no conclusion because it encourages critical thinking which is seemingly a large goal of schools now-a-days. The reason though that critical thinking is encouraged is stated by Lydia Dobyns saying that it “focusing on applying knowledge to prepare students for college and career” which is something that will benefit students even after they leave their two or four year institute. Another thing that a story with no conclusion can promote is discussion among peers as well as debates stemming off from that about what may have happened after the story ends. These discussions would mainly use inference since we don’t know what happened which is a form of critical thinking itself. Along with the development of critical thinking there is also a way that authors benefit from making a story without a conclusion. The way that an author will benefit almost every single time is that if they make a sequel to the book with no conclusion. The

The last lines of Bartleby state that he is staring at a wall in jail after being sent there because he is being a nuisance and invading the property of the law firm on wall street ran by the protagonist. Along with his strange death of starvation implied by the author all throughout the story we see Bartleby acting rather strange and somewhat comedic because of his refusal to do any work that is asked of him. Because of Bartleby’s strange behaviour we are left to wonder why he is acting the way he is because it is clearly not the normal way every other character in the story does or any way that even a person of the present age would act. Leaving this story this way playing on the reader’s curiosity is a great example of how to write a story without a