Herman Melville wrote numerous short stories while, using different literary techniques. Melville brilliantly uses symbolism in his story Bartleby the Scrivener. Melville uses Bartleby as a reference to a Christ-like figure. Melville does this to test the narrator that all people are going to have a hard test in life and that no one is exempted from this. Melville’s throws symbolism all throughout this story. He shows how Bartleby is compared to other people at his work and how Bartleby becomes the ultimate test for the narrator. Melville uses clear symbolism to portray Bartleby as a Christ-like figure, proving to the narrator that there is no easy life for anyone.
A critic of Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener, Richard J. Zlogar, breaks down
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the fundamental pieces of Melville’s story. Zolgar unlocks the symbolism in, Bartleby the Scrivener, and shows how Melville uses them to represent the historical time comparing Bartleby as a Christ- like figure and how he gives the Narrator the ultimate test of life to him. Zlogar brilliantly takes very important pieces for the story and relates Bartleby as Christ. He shows how Christ was a beggar to people and that Bartleby is a beggar to the narrator. Zlogar explains how Bartleby is treated by his coworkers including the narrator and how Bartleby was persecuted by his peers like Jesus did back in to old testament. Zlogar has created himself as a mastermind of how Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener uses symbolism to portray Bartleby as Christ, and showing the ultimate test for the narrator. The test to the narrator is how he treats one of his employees, Bartleby. Bartleby is treated by the other coworkers like, a mental ill person in society, so to speak. The narrator along aside, Nippers and Turkey, are all friends even though Nippers and Turkey are half of the worker that Bartleby was. “When Nippers’ was on, Turkey was off; and vice versa.” (Melville 665). The narrator claims that Turkey is half of a worker and Nippers is the other half. Together they are one worker in the office without either of them together Nippers and Turkey would not get much if any of the work done. The narrator claim that Bartleby was only allowed to review high end document for the narrator. Only to still find out that Bartleby is still the one left out of his employers. “I felt my most precious papers perfectly safe in his hands” (Melville 671). Knowing that the narrator has some strange relationship with Bartleby. The narrator feels like Bartleby has something to offer by the way the narrator trust Bartleby, with his most important documents, or the narrator would have fired him by now, since Bartleby has started to decline working on those important papers for the narrator. Even though the narrator says that his most important papers are safe with Bartleby while, sometimes Bartleby says ‘no’ about looking at the papers. As Bartleby says “I would prefer not to” (Melville 668). He stuns the narrator by rejecting a direct order to Bartleby. The narrator goes one in disbelief about the rejection, but the narrator was touched on how a wonderful manner and disconcerted Bartleby was to the narrator. The narrator will not turn him away because the narrator explains that he thinks that Bartleby will fall in with another lesser indulgent where Bartleby will gets rudely treated and maybe even to starve. At the office, the employees all are beside each other within talking distance to communicate with one another while Bartleby is shoved into a cubic room only to stare through a window leading to a wall. Bartleby is surprisingly comfortable in that area where he proclaims to keep to himself. “I had never seen him reading/ behind the screen/ looking out his pale window behind the screen, upon a brick wall.” (Melville 673). The significance of this detail lies in a connection that can be made with an architectural curiosity of medieval churches in England called a "leper's window (Zlogar 17). In medieval churches people with diseases, leprosy, could still attend mass through the leper’s window. Like Bartleby, who is describe as a pallid and thin would be a leper in medieval England. Bartleby is out casted by his peers in the of work only to see the outside of a pale window. “Bartleby suffering from "miserable friendlessness and loneliness" amid an impersonal Wall Street society” Zlogar explains (517). Bartleby knows he is an outcast by his peers but choose to continue the same lifestyle as he waiting for something to happen. Zolgar states that Bartleby is waiting for a host, which is a symbol for communion (Zlogar 517). Bartleby is representing in the story as a god like figure or god himself.
“he lives, then, on ginger nuts, never eats dinner/ vegetarian/nothing but ginger nuts.” (Melville 669). This can be represented as eating the bread in a church. Zlogar states “The closest the scrivener comes to an enactment of Christ's communal Last Supper is his dining alone on the ginger-cake "wafers". (Zlogar 517). The narrator can also be a representation of God to Bartleby’s leprosy. The narrator must get over the nauseating feeling to Bartleby in order to heal him from his disease (Zlogar 517). Bartleby is persecuted from his so-called home, the office, and is taken to a jail. “It has informed me that the writer had to the police, and had Bartleby removed to the Tombs as a vagrant.” (Melville 684). Bartleby was persecuted from his home and sentence to a jail. In the biblical days, Jesus was persecuted and sentence to death. Bartleby was basically sentenced to death as he died in front of the narrator who returned one last time to see Bartleby. Bartleby provides the ultimate test for the narrator as he is someone like a ‘beggar’. Jesus Christ is not going to knock at someone’s door with a fancy suit on. Christ is going to look like a beggar, who is diseased, to see who has the faith to care for
him. The narrator doesn’t come close to passing the ultimate test that is given by Bartleby. The narrator thinks too highly of himself and what other people think to help the scrivener heal or deprived his loneliness. After all the narrator finely shows affection to Bartleby after he dies in the jail cell. “I felt his hand, when a tingling shiver ran up my arm and down my spine to my feet.” (Melville 686). The narrator realizes that Bartleby is more important to him than he and the rest of his peers thought. It’s shameful that the narrator waits till Bartleby dies to touch him with affections after treating him like an outcast for the rest of Bartleby’s life.
Bartleby- The Scrivener In Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener”, the author uses several themes to convey his ideas. The three most important themes are alienation, man’s desire to have a free conscience, and man’s desire to avoid conflict. Melville uses the actions of an eccentric scrivener named Bartleby, and the responses of his cohorts, to show these underlying themes to the reader. The first theme, alienation, is displayed best by Bartleby’s actions. He has a divider put up so that the other scriveners cannot see him, while all of them have desks out in the open so they are full view of each other, as well as the narrator. This caused discourse with all of the others in the office. This is proven when Turkey exclaims, “ I think I’ll just step behind his screen and black his eyes for him.”(p.2411) The other scriveners also felt alienated by the actions of the narrator. His lack of resolve when dealing with Bartleby angered them because they knew that if they would have taken the same actions, they would have been dismissed much more rapidly. The narrator admits to this when he said, “ With any other man I should have flown outright into a dreadful passion, scorned all further words, and thrust him ignominiously from my presence.” (2409) The next theme is man’s desire to avoid conflict. The narrator avoids conflict on several occasions. The first time Bartleby refused to proofread a paper, the narrator simply had someone else do it instead of confronting him and re...
People one can never really tell how person is feeling or what their situation is behind closed doors or behind the façade of the life they lead. Two masterly crafted literary works present readers with characters that have two similar but very different stories that end in the same result. In Herman Melville’s story “Bartleby the Scrivener” readers are presented with Bartleby, an interesting and minimally deep character. In comparison to Gail Godwin’s work, “A Sorrowful Woman” we are presented with a nameless woman with a similar physiological state as Bartleby whom expresses her feelings of dissatisfaction of her life. Here, a deeper examination of these characters their situations and their ultimate fate will be pursued and delved into for a deeper understanding of the choice death for these characters.
In conclusion, this essay analyzes the similarities and differences of the two stories written by Herman Melville, Billy Budd and Bartleby. The settings, characters, and endings in the two stories reveal very interesting comparisons and contrasts. The comparison and contrast also includes the interpretation of the symbolism that Melville used in his two stories. The characters, Billy and Bartleby, could even be considered autobiographical representatives of Herman Melville.
In conclusion, it was evident that this great work of literature provides many allusions that provide reference to more familiar work and help us understand a clearer understanding to the meaning of the work. Even though the allusions do not all pertain to the entire meaning of the work, but they do illuminate a broader perspective of the characters, setting, and tone. Yet, there were a lot of allusions that did illuminate the entire meaning of the novella, and even though the true meaning remains ambiguous they still reflected what most readers consider the meaning. The meaning of Herman Melville’s well known masterpiece is that one who had suffered was not really the one suffering, but the one who caused the suffer is really the one who is suffering.
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.
In Herman Melville's story, Bartleby, the Scrivener, the narrator's attitude towards Bartleby constantly changes throughout the story, the narrator's attitude is conveyed through literary elements such as diction, point of view, and tone.
Herman Melville’s use of religious images not only demonstrates his genius as a romantic author, but also displays the human capacity for evil. Melville specifically chooses these religious images to make a powerful statement on how evil is used as a weapon against people. Melville’s use of religious imagery is deliberate and even on the verge of calculating. Melville uses religion multiple times to show how being ignorant of one’s surroundings can be incredibly damaging.
In the short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” which was written by Herman Melville, the character named Bartleby is a very odd, yet interesting individual. In the story, Bartleby is introduced when he responds to a job opening at the narrator’s office. Although there is no background information given about him, it becomes very apparent that he will be the antagonist in this story. Unlike the usual image put on the antagonist, Bartleby causes conflict with a very quiet and calm temperament. This character’s attitude, along with the fact that he is a flat and static character, makes him a very unique antagonist, and this fact is shown through the way other characters approach and deal with his conflict.
Herman Melville wrote some of the most widely read works in the history of literature during the late nineteenth century. He has become a writer with whom the romantic era is associated and a man whose works have become a standard by which modern literature is judged. One of his most well-known and widely studied short pieces of fiction is a story entitled, simply, Billy Budd. In this short story, Melville tells the tale of Billy Budd, a somewhat out-of-place stuttering sailor who is too innocent for his own good. This enchanting tale, while inevitably entertaining, holds beneath it many layers of interpretive depth and among these layers of interpretation, an idea that has been entertained in the literature of many other romantic writers. Melville uses a literary technique of developing two characters that are complete opposites in all aspects and contrasting them throughout the narrative, thus allowing their own personalities to adversely compliment each other. Melville also uses this tactic in another well-known short story, Bartleby the Scrivener. Much like Melville's two stories, another romantic writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne, uses this tactic in his short story, The Artist of the Beautiful when he creates two completely different characters who vie for the same woman's love. Both writers use the contrary characters to represent the different facets of the human personality. Using this idea and many others, these romantic writers, Melville and Hawthorne, created works with depth of meaning that were both interesting to read and even more intriguing to interpret.
Melville, Herman. "Bartleby the Scrivener." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton & Company, 2003. 2330-2355
In Herman Melville’s work “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street”, the idea of a capitalist agenda is intentionally reinforced. This short work tells the story of a lawyer on Wall-Street and those of his employees, but he is particularly fascinated by Bartleby. Bartleby at first a hard worker who divulged tirelessly in his job as a law-copyist begins to “ prefer not” to do what is asked of him. This leads to the lawyer to grow increasingly curious about Bartleby. The idea of capitalist values in “Bartleby the Scrivener” are supported through the way the narrator, the lawyer, presents his employees to the reader, describes meeting Bartleby and Bartleby’s
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.
Symbolism, something that figuratively represents something else, is prominent in many literary works. One piece of literature that stands out as a perfect example of symbolism is Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown." This story is completely symbolic, and provides a good example of an allegory, or a story in which concrete items or characters represent abstract ideas. Hawthorne uses both objects and people as symbols to better support the allegorical tones throughout "Young Goodman Brown."
“A symbol is something that has a literal identity but also stands for something else—something that is widely understood and has been developed over a long period of time or by common agreement,” (Clugston, 2010). Symbolism is widely used in all forms of literature to include both short stories and poems. Symbolism is also used to challenge a reader go beyond what is on the page by using imagination and association that is mostly used in everyday life. Also once you have learned what certain symbols represent you may find yourself using them in your observations of everyday life, on the other hand those that have experienced life and have their own account of what symbols mean to them they will be able to bring their literature to life through symbolism as well. "In order to write about life, first you must live it,” (Hemingway, nd), is clarifying that those who have lived and experienced life are better able to write about it and use symbolism from the world around him.
In the novella Billy Budd, Melville portrays his characters in such a way as to demonstrate the constant conflict between good and evil in the world. He achieves this by the utilization of Biblical symbolism with all of his characters. Melville portrays Billy as a Christ like figure because Billy was the innocent man that was brought into an evil world (the world of a war ship during those times), full of corruption and later on he had to be sacrificed for the betterment of the many. Melville suggests that Billy’s life is comparable to that of Jesus Christ in several ways. One of the examples that Melville compares young Billy’s life with that of Jesus is when Claggart falsely accuses Billy of organizing a mutiny aboard the Indomitable, just