Bartleby The Scrivener

The narrator of the story becomes shocked when he discovers that Bartleby, who only feeds on ginger nuts, has never left the office. This is actually the first time that the narrator experiences the spiritual power that Bartleby possesses. The narrator is so much business oriented that he only looks at the world in terms of profits. However, when he encounters this aspect of the spirit of Bartleby, his attitude towards life changes. He begins appreciating the fact that Bartleby deserves better treatment, not in the capitalist way. The narrator even sees what is a right, just as an asset, but this perception is later changed by Bartleby’s spirit: “What earthly right have you to stay here? Do you pay any rent? Do you pay my taxes? Or is this property yours?” (Melville, 41).

“Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville, is a story about the quiet struggle of the common man. Refusing to bow to the demands of his employer, Bartleby represents a challenge to the materialistic ideology by refusing to comply with simple requests made by his employer. The story begins with the employer having trouble finding good employees. This is until the employer hires Bartleby. At first, Bartleby works hard and does his job so well that everyone has a hard time imagining what it would be like without him. After three days, Bartleby is asked by his boss to examine a legal paper. He replies with “I would prefer not to”. The story ends with Bartleby being discovered occupying the office at weekends and being taken into custody for

The secondary title for the novel, A Story of Wall-Street, sets the stage for what has become another moral dilemma of man — the importance of commerce placed over the importance of life. Melville plays with the role of commerce continuously throughout this work, which takes place inside of a Lawyer's office on Wall Street. The Lawyer states, very simply, that he is "a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best," revealing that at the very core of his being is an ideal that anything strenuous he may come across in his path should be quickly avoided, as to not cause any disturbance in his daily routine (Melville 1). This accurately sums up the general mindset of those on Wall Street at the time, and perhaps America as a whole -- that anything out of the ordinary was considered a nuisance to those focused entirely on the generation of wealth. The Lawyer recognizes this, and even considers himself a part of this crowd. However, he has taken the time to write this account of Bartleby, the Scrivener that arrives one day to fill a position in the office. While Bartleby may represent this "nuisance" exactly, the Lawyer finds himself drawn towards the mysterious quality he brings, unaware whether he will be beneficial to the firm or

The use of names throughout the novel is also a way to show the power roles between the characters.  This can be seen by the fact that Celie is unable to call Mr. _______ by his first name, and in fact hardly even recognizes the

Herman Melville is an acclaimed author of the American Renaissance period and his most commendable works include “Bartleby, the Scrivener”. The story of “Bartleby” is not only a revelation of the business world of the mid-19th century but at the same time, it is also the manifestation of the emerging capitalistic lifestyle of perhaps New York’s most prominent street, Wall Street. Bartleby is a rather peculiar yet captivating figure. Bartleby’s life and death contribute to a sort of enigma for the reader and his employer. “Bartleby, the Scrivener” is a story that criticizes the monotonous day-to-day cycle that the modern working man is forcibly put in by society. With that being said, the death of Bartleby not only serves as a reflection

Bartleby, the Scrivener, is a story written by Herman Mellvile. It is about a successful lawyer who hires a homeless, depressed man named Bartleby to transcribe documents for him. The narrator of this story is the lawyer. Throughout the story, Bartleby declines at his job, saying he would “prefer not” to perform his duties. Eventually, the lawyer learns about Bartleby’s homelessness by discovering he has been living in the office. After a while, the lawyer feels it would be best for the business to just move to a different office, so he does. To his surprise, Bartleby follows him there. Bartleby ends up getting arrested and eventually dies while in prison. This story has great meaning to it. The main character displays a great character of

At first, the story ''Bartleby, the Scrivener'' by Herman Melville was unusual for me. Moreover, I thought that at the conclusion, we would know the Bartleby's secret. Why he is the ''riddle'', what he is hiding and what caused him so different from any other people from Wall Street.

One of the first ways in which Melville begins the dehumanization of the workers is through the narrator’s use of condescending nicknames for his employees: Turkey, Ginger Nut and Nippers. The reader does not know their actual names and never learns them. Their nicknames are what becomes the important commodity to the novella. When one thinks of turkey, we tend to think of an animal and not the name of a person, “Nippers” sounds like the name you would give a dog while Ginger Nut is the name of a type of cake. Why

Herman Melville’s, “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” tells the tale of Bartleby, the new scrivener at a lawyer’s office on Wall-Street. In an office of industrious, distressed workers who endlessly perform mundane tasks due to the orders of the lawyer, Bartleby forms a mystifying exception. Bartleby baffles his boss and colleagues by responding to requests with his famous line, “I would prefer not to.” His response demonstrates an unwillingness to work and a willingness to do what he truly desires, which is extremely unusual to both his colleagues and their society and creates a massive social divide between them. Due to the abandonment of those around him resulting from their growing frustration with his inactivity, Bartleby ultimately faces a swift

During this time period “In 1850 New York witnessed a broad range of militant working-class-political turmoil: mass meetings parades, rallies, demonstrations, and strikes” (Kuebrich 381). If you did not fall into the click of the industrial revolution, and capitalism you were then seen as an outcast and were not treated properly at all. Melville knew this and did not like it so he made this short story showing people the bad effects that come along with it. To prove his point he created his character Bartleby, and he is a symbol of the people who did not want to fall into the trap that was capitalism without even knowing that they have, so he created this story to show a much darker side of just that. Bartleby was his extreme way of showing

Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener,” Melville questions the efficiency of property ownership in terms of wealth. Through the actions of the lawyer and the scrivener, Bartleby, Melville portrays two contrary views concerning the importance of money in society. Meanwhile, the lawyer resolutely considers money as a commodity, assigning all materialistic items a dollar value. Bartleby indirectly implies his belief that money purposely acting as a concept openly disregarding and opposing its value and significance in society.

Lastly, the last employee The Lawyer describes is Bartleby. According to the Lawyer, Bartle is, “one of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable, except from the original sources, and in his case those are very small” (Melville 1). To him, Bartleby is the most interesting scriveners of all time. Bartleby joins the office after getting hired when he saw an ad placed by the Lawyer, which at that time needed extra help in his office. In the

The meaning of names is a central focus of the novel, because names define people. Their worth and functions are summarized by the names. To some extent, the names also discourage originality. This occurs especially to

Morals are an essential part of the human psyche. In Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street,” the scribe Bartleby works for a lawyer for a short period of time. During the time, the lawyer notices Bartleby’s odd characteristics which are similar to the characteristics of how lepers in The Bible are treated. In the short story, Melville infuses the story with symbols such as the Dead Letter Office and a key phrase that alludes to the narrator’s failure to answer the moral question that Bartleby presents of how lepers should be treated in society.

Herman Melville, the author of “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A story of Wall Street” and few other notable works such as Moby Dick, grew up in the nineteenth century encircled by the New York area. By the time Melville started writing his short story on Bartleby, Wall Street was already a big financial district and his father had lost along with many others in the stock market. This novella was one that was very personal for Melville. Melville wrote his story to go against the crowd with his writing whose style was not very common. One can theorize that Herman Melville uses his short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener” to display isolation/alienation of people in the workplace that could have been evident in the nineteenth century. We see through the