The Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville and the Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin both demonstrates the theme of freedom. In Bartleby the Scrivener, Melville shows that Bartleby is protesting against the authority and refuses to perform duties. On the other hand, in the Story of an Hour, Chopin shows that Ms. Mallard is grieving over her husband death and realization that she is free from the restraints of marriage. Both authors use theme, symbolism, and character to convey the meaning of the stories. Some symbolism in the stories such as open window and brick wall and some characters are Ms Mallard, Mr Mallard, and Bartleby. Although both authors use these elements of fiction such as theme, symbolism, and character, however, Kate Chopin
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The open window in this story symbolizes freedom just like in the “Story of an Hour.” Bartleby is given job and his desk is in the corner of the office where a window is located. Through the open window only thing that Bartleby could see is nothing but a brick wall. The brick wall outside the office window symbolize Bartleby has no freedom at all. Even though the open window symbolizes freedom but the brick wall shows that he has no freedom in the working places and for workers during the capitalism. At first he appeared to be the typical hard working employee, but when requested to examine the copies Bartleby simply stated, “I would prefer not to” (297). This shocked the lawyer and other employees as he would go against the boss. He started to stop doing any tasks as Melville says “The next day I noticed that Bartleby did nothing but stand at his window in his dead- wall revery”(37). This shows that he is fighting to get his freedom by not doing any task given by the boss. However, this pattern only repeated itself on several occasions with the same simple response. It seems as though Bartleby set himself free from the trapped world of a typical working man by refusing to participate in anything. Bartleby did only what he wanted and didn’t even regard his own boss. However, he still does
The open window in this story symbolizes freedom just like in the “Story of an Hour.” Bartleby is given job and his desk is in the corner of the office where a window is located. Through the open window only thing that Bartleby could see is nothing but a brick wall. The brick wall outside the office window symbolize Bartleby has no freedom at all. Even though the open window symbolizes freedom but the brick wall shows that he has no freedom in the working places and for workers during the capitalism. At first he appeared to be the typical hard working employee, but when requested to examine the copies Bartleby simply stated, “I would prefer not to” (297). This shocked the lawyer and other employees as he would go against the boss. He started to stop doing any tasks as Melville says “The next day I noticed that Bartleby did nothing but stand at his window in his dead- wall revery”(37). This shows that he is fighting to get his freedom by not doing any task given by the boss. However, this pattern only repeated itself on several occasions with the same simple response. It seems as though Bartleby set himself free from the trapped world of a typical working man by refusing to participate in anything. Bartleby did only what he wanted and didn’t even regard his own boss. However, he still does