Bartleby,
the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street
By:
Herman Melville
“Here I
can cheaply purchase a delicious self-approval.
To befriend Bartleby; to humor him in his strange willfulness, will cost
me little or nothing, while I lay up in my soul what will eventually prove a
sweet morsel for my conscience.” (Paragraph 53)
While
reading “Bartleby, the Scrivener”, by Herman Melville, I couldn’t help but
notice that the Lawyer has taken Bartleby on as a charity case. The first morning that Bartleby came in to
answer the advertisement, the Lawyer described him as, “pallidly neat, pitiably
respectable, incurably forlorn!” (Paragraph 15)
From the first moment he met Bartleby he must have known there was
something wrong with him and yet he still decided to hire him.
For the
first few days Bartleby did excellent work.
It wasn’t until he was asked to do more than just copy that Bartleby
started using his mantra, “I would prefer not to.” (Paragraph 21) The fact that the lawyer did not throw
Bartleby out that very instant or at any of the other times Bartleby refused to
do what he said, shows the Lawyers compassion for the sick man. The Lawyer said, “there was something
about Bartleby that not only strangely disarmed me, but in a wonderful manner
touched and disconcerted me.” (Paragraph 35)
He is continually torn between feelings of anger, frustration,
confusion, and pity. And although he
knows nothing about Bartleby’s history he can tell that he “means no mischief;
it is plain he intends no insolence; his aspect sufficiently evinces that his
eccentricities are involuntary.”
Throughout
the rest of the story the Lawyer is surprisingly accepting of Bartleby’s
stubborn attitude. At first he seems to
just not know what to do about it. He is
so surprised by Bartleby’s refusal to do what he asks that he does nothing to reprimand
him. Once he finds out that Bartleby is
living in the office he starts to really pity him. “What miserable
friendlessness and loneliness are here revealed! His poverty is great; but his solitude, how horrible!”
(Paragraph 88)
The
Lawyer tried and tried to figure out a way to connect with this strange man, but he finally realizes that there is nothing that he can do. He
ends up abandoning him in the end, but not until after he offers to help him in any
way that he can. He even offered to take
Bartleby home to live with him.
Bartleby refused all of his help and ended up getting hauled off to jail. Eventually Bartleby completely stopped living. He stopped eating and ended up dying under the tree in the yard. Alone. It just goes to show that while charity is a wonderful thing, you can’t
save everyone.
Marie,
ReplyDeleteFirst off, the picture you have on your post is great! Your blog post is very well written. I agree with you when you said that the point of the story is that charity is a wonderful thing, but you can't save everybody. I had a hard time reading this passage, but it sounds like you did very well interpreting the point of Melville's story. Great job with your post. I'm looking forward to reading more of yours.
-Taylor Ivie
Marie:
ReplyDeleteI really liked your essay. You did a great job analyzing the story. Eveverything flows in your essay beautifully. It is very easy to read. I do have to wonder about your statement of Melville having to know he was taking Bartleby on as a charity case. The only reason I say that is because I work for a man that has a similar personality to Melville. I don't believe these men look for there next charity case but it does not throw them if they find out they are dealing with one. What I know for a fact is that these men have a bigger heart then I can ever expect mine to be. ...anyway, I really enjoyed your story. You should score well on this one.