Bartleby the Scrivener Everyone loves food. It is what our life is built around and what keeps us going throughout the day. It is an integral part of our economic market. Businesses and entire industries are based on consumer sales of foodstuffs and accessories to cook them. In Bartleby, the Scrivener, this is also a central motif seen throughout the short story. The alternate title for this short is a Story on Wall Street, a reference to the consumerist society in which we live. Melville uses many food references and Bartleby’s lack of eating to highlight his preference not to participate in a consumerism or the typical American materialistic society.
Wall Street is often viewed as the epicenter of consumerism and …show more content…
Everything is to be done in moderation. Eat too much and you promote a fat, lazy lifestyle, but eat too little, and you will die from starvation. "Does he want to starve? If he does let him live on the prison fare". Because the narrator finds Bartleby's behavior so difficult to understand, he begins to pity him in order to make himself feel better. "Here I can cheaply purchase a delicious self-approval. To befriend Bartleby, to humor him in his strange willfulness, will cost me little to nothing, while I lay up in my soul what will eventually prove a sweet morsel for my conscious". In this line, Melville finally distinctly links food with capitalism and consumerist ideals. The narrator, believing he is showing kindness and doing a great service but he is only acting in his own interest or the "what can I get out of it," mentality that is often seen today.
Food is the major motif in Bartleby the Scrivener. Melville's use of Bartleby and his behavior all serve to prove a point in moderation. Though Bartleby tries to go against what is the norm, he ultimately succumbs to the weight of his "preference" not to participate. Wall Street is a place that thrives on consummation of products and how much money the sales of these products can make. In the case of Bartleby, Wall Street had
Wall Street is often viewed as the epicenter of consumerism and …show more content…
Everything is to be done in moderation. Eat too much and you promote a fat, lazy lifestyle, but eat too little, and you will die from starvation. "Does he want to starve? If he does let him live on the prison fare". Because the narrator finds Bartleby's behavior so difficult to understand, he begins to pity him in order to make himself feel better. "Here I can cheaply purchase a delicious self-approval. To befriend Bartleby, to humor him in his strange willfulness, will cost me little to nothing, while I lay up in my soul what will eventually prove a sweet morsel for my conscious". In this line, Melville finally distinctly links food with capitalism and consumerist ideals. The narrator, believing he is showing kindness and doing a great service but he is only acting in his own interest or the "what can I get out of it," mentality that is often seen today.
Food is the major motif in Bartleby the Scrivener. Melville's use of Bartleby and his behavior all serve to prove a point in moderation. Though Bartleby tries to go against what is the norm, he ultimately succumbs to the weight of his "preference" not to participate. Wall Street is a place that thrives on consummation of products and how much money the sales of these products can make. In the case of Bartleby, Wall Street had