These actions come from a man of which the narrator and the readers know very little. It would seem logical for the narrator to assume Bartleby had suffered some cruel injustice. The narrator feels pity for Bartleby because he seems sad; he goes nowhere, seems to eat or drink nothing, and says nothing. Everything the narrator and readers feel at this point are not because of anything Bartleby does per se. These emotions are based on very little and Bartleby does not provoke any of them.
Bartleby has a connection to death. This last piece of information the narrator reveals might be the most significant in regard to understanding Bartleby's behavior. Being a clerk in the Dead Letter Office must certainly take its toll on someone, the narrator surmises. This occupation seems to fit Bartleby's nature; the narrator describes Bartleby as being "pallid" and "incurably forlorn" (Melville). The connection readers find to Bartleby and death is how the man is like one of the letters that goes nowhere. All of the good things people may have written down to encourage others are lost. Strangely, the sender of the letter never knows the letter did not arrive. They assume it did, never once thinking it was lost along the way and made it into the hands of a man tragically affected by it. Good cheer and hope "speed to death" (Melville), much like Bartleby did. Bartleby seemed to speed his way toward death because of his reticent behavior. He chose not to work or reveal anything about himself. He literally wasted away without a clue as to why. Dead letters go unanswered like the questions surrounding Bartleby's life.
By providing the reader with few facts about Bartleby, Melville gives the reader the opportunity to come to his own conclusion about the character. There are theories that...
The narrator becomes restless in finding a solution to this new and unexpected problem that he encounters. All the knowledge and wisdom he thinks he has gathered in years of practicing an easy, uncomplicated way of acting are of no use to him now. The old order of thongs and his firm beliefs are of no use when he is dealing with the case of Bartleby. Sometimes, the reader
The story is about a relationship, not just the fact Bartleby does not 'care' to work. Thompson, Graham. "Dead letters!....Dead men?': The rhetoric of the office in Melville's 'Bartleby, the Scrivener'. " Journal of American Studies 3-34.(2000): 395-411. Thompson analyzes the relationship between Bartleby and the unnamed narrator as a kind of a romance. Why is the narrator compelled to tell the story of Bartleby, long after it happened? Telling
" Bartleby's physical appearance -- his pale visage, his lean form, his tattered clothing and his "flute-like" voice -- conveys a man who is like the living dead. Indeed, the narrator discovers that Bartleby has been sleeping in the office. Bartleby is like a man who is haunting the building. He only speaks when he is summoned; he has no discernible emotional reactions, and he floats around the office as if
Abstract This article provides an example of a Bartleby the scrivener analysis essay. It begins with an introduction, which is followed by a brief but detailed summary of the plot of the story. A short analysis of the story is then provided, with emphasis placed on the theme of determinism vs. free will. Bartleby is shown as one who is despairingly opposed to the deterministic notions of Calvinism, ingrained in the
Whitman uses simile effectively ("The glories strung like beads on my smallest sights and hearings") and uses metaphors effectively to link himself with others that have crossed the river in the past ("The dark threw its patches down upon me also…") because he certainly wasn't and isn't perfect at all so he had a metaphor for that ("I too knitted the old knot of contrariety…"). Melville's narrator, whose work is
Man of the Crowd By Edgar Allan Poe (1840) The story significantly depicts not only the preoccupation of the 17th hundred London issues and a trend brought by the progressive industrialization of time, but speaks so much relevance in our modern time as well. The epigraph which sums up the very essence of the story explains the dynamic of a human being too busy to mingle with the crowd for fear of
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now