Like all of humanity, the characters in Bartleby: The Scrivener by Herman Melville are imperfect. Humans have all felt pain, fear, insecurity, disappointment, and regret at some point in our lives; It is simply our nature to possess flaws. Perfection is an illusion, existing only in our minds. In truth, everything humans do in this life is an effort to correct our flaws, whether they realize this or not. We love one another and seek knowledge in an attempt to better ourselves. The Lawyer, who narrates Bartleby: the Scrivener, depicts some of the prominent flaws within the characters of the story, including Bartleby. Yet it is not by pointing out the flaws of Bartleby that makes readers see him as different because we all have flaws. Instead
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Turkey is around the age of sixty, the same age as the Lawyer, and he is a rather productive worker. The main fault we see in Turkey’s manner is that he works at his best in the morning, but as the day goes on his work gets sloppier. Although this is an inconvenience for the Lawyer, it is a fairly ordinary flaw, so the Lawyer has adjusted to this quirk and he gives Turkey less important documents to copy in the afternoon. Nippers serves almost as a dramatic foil for Turkey; Turkey is old while Nippers is young, Turkey works better in the morning while Nippers works better in the afternoon, and so on. Luckily for the Lawyer, he never had to deal with Turkey and Nippers’ fits at the same time. When one’s flaws were apparent, the other’s were relatively …show more content…
Turkey and Nippers each have quirks, but their habits are understandable, and fortunately their mannerisms balance each other out. Bartleby, however, is more than just flawed, he’s damaged. It is not clear what has caused this downward spiral into pure misery for Bartleby, though the Lawyer does suspect Bartleby’s previous occupation had some effect, regardless, Bartleby is indefinitely a tragic sight to see. Isolation and alienation are the underlying themes of Bartleby: The Scrivener, and Bartleby is the embodiment of an outcast in the bustling society of New York City. Though Bartleby may have caused his own isolation by living an abnormal life, like most outcasts in the real world, society’s failure to reach out and help an outcast does nothing but drive that outcast into further emotional separation from their
Turkey is around the age of sixty, the same age as the Lawyer, and he is a rather productive worker. The main fault we see in Turkey’s manner is that he works at his best in the morning, but as the day goes on his work gets sloppier. Although this is an inconvenience for the Lawyer, it is a fairly ordinary flaw, so the Lawyer has adjusted to this quirk and he gives Turkey less important documents to copy in the afternoon. Nippers serves almost as a dramatic foil for Turkey; Turkey is old while Nippers is young, Turkey works better in the morning while Nippers works better in the afternoon, and so on. Luckily for the Lawyer, he never had to deal with Turkey and Nippers’ fits at the same time. When one’s flaws were apparent, the other’s were relatively …show more content…
Turkey and Nippers each have quirks, but their habits are understandable, and fortunately their mannerisms balance each other out. Bartleby, however, is more than just flawed, he’s damaged. It is not clear what has caused this downward spiral into pure misery for Bartleby, though the Lawyer does suspect Bartleby’s previous occupation had some effect, regardless, Bartleby is indefinitely a tragic sight to see. Isolation and alienation are the underlying themes of Bartleby: The Scrivener, and Bartleby is the embodiment of an outcast in the bustling society of New York City. Though Bartleby may have caused his own isolation by living an abnormal life, like most outcasts in the real world, society’s failure to reach out and help an outcast does nothing but drive that outcast into further emotional separation from their