Herman Melvilles Bartleby, the Scrivener Essay - 3521 Words

Herman Melvilles Bartleby, the Scrivener The narrator states fairly early on in Herman Melvilles Bartleby, the Scrivener that both he and Bartleby are sons of Adam (55). The phrase plays on a double entendre, referring to both the Calvinist Biblical Eden and to the view of America as the new Eden. Many recent critics have traced the biblical aspects of this and other elemen ts of the story, claiming the character of Bartleby as a Christ-figure, and as such carries out the role of a redeemer.1 The story, however, is not Bartlebys, but rather the narrators. Bartleby is simultaneously a biography about a scriven er and an autobiography about an entrepreneur, and Melville uses this narrative to attack the mythology previous†¦show more content†¦The new habits to be engendered on the new American scene were suggested by the image of a radically new personality, the hero of the new adventure: an individual emancipated from history, happily bereft of ancestry, untouched and undefiled by the usual inheritances of family an d race; and individual standing alone, self-reliant and self propelling, ready to confront whatev er awaited him with the aid of his own unique and inherent resources. ...His moral position was prior to experience, and in his very newness he was fundamentally innocent. (Lewis 5) Relatively early in his life, Franklin rejected his familial bonds and struck out on his own. He writes in part one of his Autobiography:2 At length a fresh Difference arising between my brother and me, I took upon me to assert my Freedom, presuming that he would not venture to produce new indentures (70). The remainder of part one details the various adv entures he undertakes, the mistakes he made -- or errata as he terms them -- and his ultimate success as a printer in Philadelphia. It is this narrative, and those which followed, which created the uniquely American phenomena Lewis describes as the American Adam. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is Americas primary Epic. ...[I]t is, at least from the point of view of its rhetoric, [American] culture itselfShow MoreRelated Herman Melvilles Bartleby the Scrivener Essay541 Words   |  3 Pages Bartleby- The Scrivener In Herman Melville’s â€Å"Bartleby the Scrivener†, the author uses several themes to convey his ideas. The three most important themes are alienation, man’s desire to have a free conscience, and man’s desire to avoid conflict. Melville uses the actions of an eccentric scrivener named Bartleby, and the responses of his cohorts, to show these underlying themes to the reader. The first theme, alienation, is displayed best by Bartleby’s actions. He has a divider put up so that theRead More Themes of Hopelessness in Herman Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener1233 Words   |  5 Pagesvalidity of our literary analyses. This is especially the case with Herman Melville’s â€Å"Bartleby the Scrivener†. Critics have been trying for decades to make sense of the text and most will describe it as â€Å"inscrutable†. I don’t claim to know better than the critics, but instead offer my own interpretation of the work. Based on my observations and analysis, Melville’s use of many elements in his story—first and foremost the character of Bartleby, but also the dead letters, the many walls of Wall Street, andRead MoreHerman Melvilles Story, Bartleby, the Scrivener Essay835 Words   |  4 Pages In Herman Melvilles short story, Bartleby, the Scrivener, the narrators attitude towards Bartleby is constantly changing, the narrators attitude is conveyed through the authors use of literary elements such as; diction-descriptive and comical, point of view-first person, and tone-confusion and sadness. One of the literary elements that Melville uses that convey the narrators attitude towards Bartleby is diction. The authors diction in this short story is very descriptive and is also slightlyRead MoreEssay on Herman Melvilles Bartleby the Scrivener1090 Words   |  5 PagesSince he will not quit me, I must quit him. amp;quot;Ah Bartleby, Ah Humanity.amp;quot; (Page 140, Herman Melville) This is the key to Bartleby, written by Herman Melville, for it indicates that Bartleby stands as a symbol for humanity. This in turn functions as a commentary on society and the working world, for Bartleby is a seemingly homeless, mentally disturbed scrivener who gives up on the prospect of living life. However, by doing so Bartleby is attempting to exercise his freewill, for he wouldRead More The Plight of the Common Man in Herman Melvilles Bartleby, the Scrivener4258 Words   |  18 Pageskinship- with the emerging voice of the individual. (Strout 1) Herman Melville depicts the struggle for individual sovereignty in his short story Bartleby the Scrivener; through the actions and the attitudes of the elite narrator in the story, the deceptiveness of democracy is evident. The ideology of democracy purports that all men are created equal and are equally represented in the voice of government. Yet, the scriveners as common men are separated from the elite narrator who creates theRead MoreComparing Barttleby, The Scrivener : A Story Of Wall Street And Bartleby1308 Words   |  6 Pagesthe short story Bartleby, the Scrivener: A story of Wall Street and compare it to Jonathan Parkers 2001 film version Bartleby. Herman Melville wrote the short story â€Å"Bartleby, the Scrivener: A story of wall street† in 1853, narrating a tale from a lawyer about his strange behaved office clerk Bartleby. In 2001 Johnathan Parker of Parker productions turned that story into a film, â€Å"Bartleby.† However, Jonathan Parker makes many c hanges from the classic original wrote by Herman Melville in 1853Read MoreA Man s World On Wall Street1638 Words   |  7 PagesWhat makes a man, a man? Herman Melville’s â€Å"Bartleby, the Scrivener,† written in 1851, undoubtedly constructs a man’s world on Wall Street. During this time, it would be said that men and women had a certain role to fulfill. It just so happened that men were considered superior over women during the 1800’s. However, Melville wasn’t completely prosperous exterminating women from his narrative. Herman Melville’s â€Å"Bartleby the Scrivener,† is full of male characters. Bartleby, Turkey, Nippers, and GingerRead MoreThe Joy Luck Club And Bartleby The Scrivener1376 Words   |  6 Pagesenthralled with Amy Tan’s ‘The Joy Luck Club’ and Herman Melville’s ‘Bartleby, the Scrivener,’ as I resonated well with its main characters; just as the characters gradually developed in their respective stories, I found that I, too, developed by applying the story s main motifs to my life. My appreciation for ‘Bartleby’ developed over the two days that I had read it. Upon the first night’s reading of half of Herman Melville’s ‘Bartleby, the Scrivener,’ I considered the story and its characters toRead MoreHerman Melville s Bartleby, The Scrivener1305 Words   |  6 PagesHerman Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener Born in New York City on August 1st, 1819, Herman Melville led a life that commenced in partial fame and success, but ended in poverty and despair. Although unjustly criticized for the â€Å"purposeless extravagance† and â€Å"disorderliness† of his writing, due to his digressions into many different topics while discussing a single one, especially in his most celebrated novel today, though most criticized and unappreciated in his time, Moby Dick, Herman MelvilleRead MorePlot, Setting, Point of View, and Tone in Bartleby the Scrivener1393 Words   |  6 Pages In the short story, Bartleby the Scrivener, Herman Melville employs the use of plot, setting, point of view, characterization, and tone to reveal the theme. Different critics have widely varying ideas of what exactly the main theme of Bartleby is, but one theme that is agreed upon by numerous critics is the theme surrounding the lawyer, Bartleby, and humanity. The theme in Bartleby the Scrivener revolves around three main developments: Bartlebys existentialistic point of view, the lawyers