...“Bartleby the Scrivener” and “A Sorrowful Woman” reflect each other in a lot of ways. They have very similar plots and both thematically show that ‘untreated mental illness can lead to death as is the fate of both characters at the end of their individual stories. “Bartleby the Scrivener” by Herman Melville is a story that depicts the journey of a man withdrawn from society and refusing to adhere to societal norms. He does not crack despite numerous attempts to breach his seemingly tough armor. Although by a different author and of different circumstances, the woman in “A Sorrowful Woman” by Gail Godwin also rejects societal norms. She is fed up with the roles that society that society has imposed on her and is at breaking point, unable to adhere to societal specifications for the ideal mother and wife anymore. Analogous to the woman in the story by Gail Godwin, Bartleby is also unable to meet the criteria for societal acceptance. In the story, “Bartleby the Scrivener”, Bartleby is marginalized by societal norms in that he is first of all defined by his outward appearance. Even before having any contact with Bartleby, his employer describes him as “pallidly neat, pitiably respectable, and incredibly forlorn”. All these traits are inferred simply from his looks, and as the saying goes, ‘First impressions matter the most’, so if his employer had already pegged him as wan, depressed, and melancholy even before having any interaction with him, it is no surprise that their relationship...
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...The Lottery and Bartleby, the Scrivener Gothic Literature is known for its presentation of hidden darkness of the human condition. The appearance of Gothic literature can often include parts that shock or place terror in the reader. However, its important to also understand that the human condition can be determined while reading different pieces of Gothic literature. In the short stories Bartleby, the Scrivener, written by Herman Melville and The Lottery, written by Shirley Jackson are both pieces of Gothic literature that can compare to each other because they discover different human conditions. When reading The Lottery we are introduced to a beautiful summer day, where the residents of a small town gather for an event known as the lottery. Mr. Summers is the man who controls the lottery and who is the man to bring the black box to the gathering area. While Mr.Summers stands and shuffles the papers inside it, the residents make sure they are carful to keep distance from the box. The residents are joined by Tessie Hutchinson the main character and who is Bill Hutchinson's wife, when the lottery begins the men are called by their family names to draw from the black box. Old Man Warner who is the oldest man in town criticizes that the lottery is necessary for a good harvest, and that people in the other towns are stupid for entertaining the idea. Once the drawing is finished, Mr.Summers directs that the men look at their paper to see who has been picked. It has been revealed...
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...Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home” and Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener” have a lot of similarities and differences between the two characters; Krebs, and Bartleby. Throughout the short stories each relate to each other in some way. Krebs just has returned from Europe while fighting in WWI and Bartleby a hired Wall Street scrivener, each struggle in fitting in with present day society but each struggle comes with a different background. According to Merriam – Webster’s definition for ‘post – traumatic stress disorder’ is, “medical: a mental condition that can affect a person who has had a very shocking or difficult experience (such as fighting in a war) and that is usually characterized by depression, anxiety, etc.”. In World War I times it was known as “shell shock”. All throughout Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home” we get the idea that Krebs is diagnosed with that disorder but back then they had no idea what this was. In the quote “He did not want any consequences. He did not want any consequences ever again. He wanted to live along without consequences. Besides he did not really need a girl. The army taught him that.” (Hemingway, 188). My perspective on this quote is that Krebs seems sexist. Basically, he is saying that he does not need a woman because they carry on too much baggage. A very disturbing scene comes up in the story as Krebs is awfully rude to his mother; “yes don’t you love your mother dear boy?” “No” Krebs said. His mother looked at him across the table. Her eyes...
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...people on Earth we still continue to feel more and more lonely and isolated. Isolation is a theme which inspires a lot of writers. Margaret Atwood in “Death by Landscape” and Herman Melville in “Bartleby, the Scrivener” illustrate the topic of isolation. Lois and Bartleby, who are the two main characters respectively, have created their own isolation, and are negatively affected by it. We will see how they are both physically and socially isolated, the reasons and the consequences of these isolation. First, from the beginning of “Death by Landscape” we can see that Lois is isolating herself physically and socially when the narrator says: “Now that the boys are grown up and Rob is dead, Lois has moved to a condominium apartment in one of the new waterfront developments” (Atwood 25). She is closed off from the outside world, in her “safe” condominium. She does not want to go up north again, even anywhere near. She just wants to stay safe and avoid her fears. Also, Lois “was living not one life but two: her own, and another, shadowy life that hovered around her and would not let itself be realized” (Atwood 35). Moreover, she was socially isolated for a long time, “she can’t remember, now, having her two boys, …or what Rob looked like” (Atwood 35). Similarly, in “Bartleby, the Scrivener” the antagonist is isolating himself. We know nothing about him, but apparently he has no family and no friends. He works and lives at his office and after a few days of work he decided not to do...
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...and to support a theme. These elements are plot, imagery, setting, point of view, and characters. For example I will use the short story by Herman Melville, “Bartleby the Scrivener.” In this short story the theme is about selfishness and that one cannot change another, because one can only change him or her self regardless of any outside efforts. The plot in this story slowly builds up and then comes crashing down. It begins with one of the characters Bartleby, arriving at a lawyer’s office, seeking employment. Bartleby is a very oddly quiet person; regardless, he starts work right away and is a great scrivener. The lawyer, who owns the office, finds Bartley’s character to be an interest to him. He says, “I resolved to assign Bartleby a corner by the folding-doors, but on my side of them so as to have this quiet man within easy call, in case any trifling thing was to be done”(10). I wonder, why does the lawyer decide to selfishly seclude him from his co-workers? The story eventually hits a conflict. He asks his copyist to do something, Bartleby responds, “I would prefer not to”(12). At one point he asks closely, “you will not?”(17) and Bartleby responds, “I prefer not”(17). The lawyer becomes curious about Bartleby’s passive resistance. The lawyer eventually comes to a point where he knows he should fire Bartleby but allows him to continue being an employee. He expresses well why in this quote: “Poor fellow! thought I, he means no mischief; it is plain he intends no insolence...
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...and Herman Melville. These two writers, among others, involve a lot of symbolism and underlying meaning. Melville, however, writes in the form of metafiction, the use of one or more themes to draw attention to the work as an art form. Unfortunately, most of Melville’s published work was rejected at the time because readers did not understand. Today, however, they are understood as having much deeper meanings then the story they tell. His story, “Bartleby, the Scrivener”, works on two levels. On one hand it is a romantic story on non-conformity and on the other it is a story about mortality....
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...people we believe to be odd, we should not exclude them from society, but instead, try to see that they get the help they need. Such is the situation with a character in Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, The Scrivener.” There are two main characters in Melville’s short story. One of the main characters is the narrator, who happens to be an elderly man and a lawyer who owns a business that copies legal documents. The other main character, Bartleby, is a scrivener that the lawyer hired. Bartleby is passive, quiet, and never becomes angry. There is no denying, however, that Bartleby is odd. Any tasks that the lawyer asked Bartleby to perform, Bartleby responds by saying, “I prefer not to”. That includes going to the post office, scriving documents…it does not matter. Bartleby gives his standard answer. The lawyer cannot abide Bartleby’s quiet insubordination, so he tries to rid himself of Bartleby. He attempts to fire him, pay him to leave, but none of that does any good. Eventually, the lawyer relocates, leaving Bartleby in the office by himself. When all of the furniture is removed as well as the green screen, this obviously points to isolation. This theme is further supported when the lawyer says, “…left him the motionless occupant of a naked room” (Charters, 585). Even when Bartleby is in the Caverns (the prison), he is isolated. The lawyer says, “…I found him there, standing all alone in the quietest of...
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...it. No matter what we do, there is something we live for—there is a meaning of life because we are born. Life is a period of time through which a person lives, which includes sleeping, eating, working, resting, thinking, and so on. “Doing nothing” does not exist for a human being. The proportion of deeds such as leisure (sleep, rest) versus work (thinking, developing, working, communicating) constitute the meaning of life. Life is worth living I think; but how one lives determines the depth of ones’s life meaning. For everybody meaning of life is different. “Others may have loftier parts to enact; but my mission in this world, Bartleby, is to furnish you with office-room for such period as you may see fit to remain” (H. Melville “Bartleby, the Scrivener”, quote 167), were Melville’s words considering life of Bartleby. For a long period of time life of strange Bartleby coincided with life of scrifeners’ office chief, which generally has changed the meaning of chief`s life. But what was the meaning of Bartleby`s life? After a long story about his everyday deeds I would conclude that there was no meaning of his life. Nothing seemed important for him, nothing was interesting for him. He seemed to have no values and no desires. His life was empty. He lived, but at the same time he had no purpose. He was an outsider to the world. I assume that no matter how hard another person would try to “awake” Bartleby, it would be all useless. “Bartleby, the Scrivener” is a sad story...
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...Melvin’s Bartleby the Scrivener tells the story of a new employee of a Law Firm on Wall Street. Everything in this story embodies my fear of my future profession. A scrivener is someone who serves as a scribe. Bartleby is a new scribe to this law firm and works day and night handwriting copies of legal documents. The lawyer describes Bartleby as an excellent worker whose work output is tremendous. Along with Bartleby are 3 other employees. Turkey is another scrivener who is described by the lawyer as being excellent in the morning; however, as the day goes on he becomes less efficient and more prone to making mistakes. Nipper is a second scrivener who is simply described as a young ambitious man and a steady worker. Ginger Nut is a young errand boy whose primary role is going to pick up ginger nut cakes. Bartleby continues to work day and night to producing perfect copies of legal documents pleasing the lawyer greatly. One day, the lawyer comes in asking Bartleby to examine a document and Bartleby responds to his plea with “I’d prefer not to.” The lawyer is baffled with this response and delegates the work to Nipper. Bartleby continues to repeat this phrase when delegated task to the point he is not getting any work done. The lawyer realizes Bartleby has been living in his office for weeks. He discovers that Bartleby has no family, friends, nor a life outside of his employment. The lawyer is forced to terminate Bartleby’s employment and asks him to leave, yet Bartleby again says...
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...Bartleby the Scrivener The meaningful projection in this story is the walls. These walls are symptoms of separation and represent Bartleby's separation from both reality and people. This set the tone for the story, as the relationships with each other seem to be purely professional in nature. This impersonality of the characters is significant - the business based world in which they operate has no room for personal interaction. Nothing is learned about any of the characters beyond what they are like in the office. The walls serve as a safe haven for Bartleby, as he is in a world with societal expectations and he chooses not to conform and the walls, in essence, allow him to retreat into a world of his own, thus protecting himself from those who may think he is a threat to their own materially oriented world. It is as though I am involved in trying to deal personally with Bartleby, a sensation that keeps me fully engaged with the story as it heads toward its tragic ending. "Strangely huddled at the base of the wall, his knees drawn up, and lying on his side, his head touching cold stones, I saw the wasted Bartleby" (Litz,1994, p.165-166). "I felt his hand, when a tingling shiver ran up my arm and down my spine to my feet" (Litz,1994, p.166). After Bartleby dies, alone and imprisoned, I learn a little of his past; apparently he worked in the dead letter office. Could it be that this depressing job affected Bartleby's sanity? Bartleby died of sadness...
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...In the story Bartleby the Scrivener, Melville shows the reader that everyone has different problems. The main one has to do with Bartleby. This is easy to tell if you pay attention to the actions of Bartleby throughout the book. In the book, Bartleby’s main problem was depression. You can tell that he gets depressed especially when he goes through all of the horrible life events such as, becoming blind and losing his place to stay. In the book Bartleby the Scrivener, the narrator shows us that depression has different effects on different people. When people have obstacles thrown at them, they have to understand them before it overcomes them. They never know what’s going to happen until it happens and what they are going to do when it does...
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...Collin Cole January 24, 2016 Professor Almanza English 1302 Sec. 382 “Bartleby The Scrivener” Answers 1. In the first few paragraphs of the story the narrator describes himself as an elderly man. He grew up with an easy life and has become accustom to that lifestyle. Being an “elderly man” means he has gone through school and has become a well-educated man, with a job as an “unambitious lawyer”, that makes a good amount of money. With that money comes a certain arrogance about him when he compares himself to Jacob Astor. His language creates a sort of complexity to him that only he wants to understand himself and with the terms like “Imprimis” he could possibly be of Latin or Spanish decent. 2. The narrator introduces Turkey, and Nippers as copyists and a third, Ginger Nut, as an office boy. First described is Turkey. Turkey is a man that begins his day in harmony and finishes his day off in chaos. “In the morning, one might say, his face was of a fine florid hue, but after twelve o clock… it blazed like a grate full of Christmas coals”, Melville shows the polar opposites of Turkeys work ethic in the morning with the “florid hue” to the evening “blazing coals”, also comparing him to the sunrise and sunset. Next we have Nippers. Nippers was a man that was also a wreck at certain parts of the day, but luckily for the narrator Nippers and Turkey swapped craziness throughout the day as if it were clockwork. “There fits relieved each other like guards” explains the...
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...I believe this narrator pays attention to details of how the scriveners he hired got their nick names and attitudes with preciseness. These statements lead me to believe this, “It was fortunate for me, that owing to its peculiar cause –indigestion- the irritability and consequent nervousness of Nippers, were mainly observable in the morning, while in the afternoon he was comparatively mild. So that Turkey’s paroxysms only coming on about twelve o’clock, I never had to do with their eccentricities at one time.” Since the narrator pays attention so much it helps us to understand that the story will develop slowly and why Bartleby makes him so curious. One of the main characters in the story is Bartleby. From details in the story like when his boss asks him to look over the things he copied and he refuses, you can tell he is not going to do anything he does not want to whether it is his job unless you force him. Bartleby makes one change by the end of the story and that is he will not talk to Mr. B. anymore. His character is negative because he does not do the things his boss needs him to like go to the post office, go over his work, or leave. This shocks his employer at first but ends up frustrating him. For example, “I was now in such a state of nervous resentment that I thought it prudent to check myself at present from further demonstrations.” I think the setting of a lawyer’s office gives off the feeling of normalness. This helps the story because you can quickly identify that...
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...Tyian Thomas English 110 3-27-15 1500 words The use of Theme and Literary Elements Literary devices are specific techniques and methods that authors use to convey an idea they are trying to tell the reader.When an author is writing,, they often try to give the reader certain ideas that would help them to understand the tale indirectly without giving away the idea or moral of the story. For example, the theme of isolation and loneliness. The theme of isolation is a very popular idea in many works of literature like Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, and even Acquainted with the night by Robert Frost. These four works of literature all carry the theme of loneliness and isolation, whether it is Bartleby refusing to interact with anyone and shutting himself away from the rest of the world, Emily who seemed to isolate herself from the rest of her village after her father’s death, the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper having to spend all her time in the a room she hates because of her disease, or the narrator of Acquainted with the Night strolling through the nightly city all by herself in solitude. All of these stories contain the very popular theme of loneliness and isolation,which are shown using various literary devices of each author’s choosing. Throughout the whole story of A Rose for Emily, the setting seemed to be very eerie and unnatural; the author gave the...
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...Herman Melville (1819-1891) Context and Background “Bartleby the Scrivener” was written in 1853, born in New York City, he was considered an “1870 writer”. Melville was one of the first American writers able to make a living off writing. People were interested in reading fiction, and “Moby Dick” was not common or appealing to the general population but holds merit today. He wrote “relatable” fiction, and people liked to read travel logs and exciting adventure stories (escapist literature). Moby Dick is not a relatable story due to the context of the scenarios, but it is considered an artistic novel because it is obscure and challenging. Melville wrote in two different modes; strange, difficult and unrealistic compared to relatable, realistic fiction. Bartleby the Scrivener contains elements of both; it is set in a New York office yet still continues weird elements. It was meant to be accessible and was considered “Great Literature” because it is symbolic, subtle and ironic. Bartleby the Scrivener * The boss is governed by the obligations of Wall Street, but also contains sympathetic traits towards Bartleby. Bartleby, who we do not know, is insane, stubborn, or stupid, and his behaviour is left up for interpretation. * Historical context: In the right hand corner of America, the Puritans went from England to settle in this area for religious reasons. New York was founded by the Dutch and they intended to set up a trading post. War was fought between these 2 groups,...
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