Bartleby

Drills, Pills, and Ginger-Nuts “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville and “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe both use isolated characters in a main role. These stories deal with how the isolation of man leads to the death of humanity. Herman Melville was a writer during the 1850s American Renaissance. His father showed symptoms of mental illness and suffered delusions until his death, while Melville was still a young boy. Melville was successful with some of his first…

purposelessness. "Bartleby had been a subordinate clerk in the Dead Letter Office at Washington"-The idea of undeliverable letters that "speed to death," even when they go "on errands of life" is admittedly horrific and unfortunate (29). The lawyer noted that the disposal of these dead parchments was most likely the most fitting job for that or the character Bartleby. This leads me to wonder weather or not the job with the dead letter was the cause for what Bartleby is, or was the job appealing…

In Herman Melville’s short story, “Bartleby,” the narrator explicitly expresses the abnormality of Bartleby’s features by illustrating Bartleby to have machine-like characteristics. The narrator establishes the fundamental depictions of Bartleby as soon as they start to interact with each other through their work. The narrator always interacts with Bartleby when he is working, which reveals that Bartleby lives off of his work. Similarly to how Bartleby’s life and soul is figuratively pulled out…

The presented passge provides an ideal character study of the lawyer, the narrator in Bartleby, the Scrivener. As the man walks home and analyzes the occurrence of the previous day, he envisioned in details and quickly self-rationalized his success in discharging Bartleby, his scrivener, from his office. The narrator’s syntax and diction demonstrates a character of sophistication and precision, while the rich observation and self-conglaturatory tone in his analysis and reveals his nuanced,…

money—capitalism. The place Bartleby finds employment at is an office on Wall Street. It's a modest and monotonous scene. “At one end they looked upon the white wall...this view might have been considered...deficient in 'life.'" (Melville 4) Melville puts in some humor, but continues his description with, "My windows commanded…

The story, Bartleby, The Scrivener, has many themes that can be seen in everyone’s work environment. The story deals with compassion, conformity, isolation, duty, chain of command, walls of many forms, etc. It can be difficult to limit the number of themes in one paper. Some of the themes can seem to overlap. Compassion takes on many forms. As the narrator tied to take care of Bartleby, I had an employer who tried to take care of employees who required special attention. In the 1980’s I…

also well known for helping make short stories into a serious form of writing in the US. Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street was not as well-appreciated as the action-filled Typee and Omoo, but today it is one of the most famous short stories ever. Bartleby the Scrivener takes an in-depth look at the new American workplace, capitalism, passive rebellion, and authority. The title character, Bartleby, can be interpreted many ways, including as an individual…

In “Bartleby the Scrivener”, Melville shows the human desires and human possibilities in the Lawyer’s actions, whether good or evil. In The Scarlet letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, this idea is shown in two separate ways. One way being through the use of Hester…

In Bartleby and Benito Cereno by Herman Melville, crimes are being committed from all areas of the text. Intentionally or not, each person are being punished in different ways. Crime is being committed against humanity (slaves) while these crimes were not against the law. Justice cannot be served to anyone because no one is fully guilty. In Benito Cereno, there is forms of innocence that differ. With the presence of innocence within the mind, there is lack of knowledge of wrongdoing, and,…

The story Bartleby by Herman Melville shows the reader a crazy, but possible outcome for a person who has reached a dead end in life. In this case, Bartleby is the character that self-destructs, while the narrator or his supervisor witnesses it and struggles to resolve the issue. The narrator feels confused and repulsed by Bartleby’s unmotivated attitude towards his work, but later in the story changes his tone to a more charitable and understanding one. For example after many attempts of…