Essay 2 - Literary Analysis

Aaron Isaacson

English 102

Mrs. Cline

20 February 2012

Bartleby’s Ultimatum – Conformity or Death

The short story, “Bartleby the Scrivener” by Herman Melville, is about a legal copyist named Bartleby who works for the narrator in a law office. Bartleby begins as an efficient and seemingly motivated employee, but his efforts soon begin to deteriorate.  He gradually withdraws from work until participation ceases altogether. He spends his days staring through a window at a brick wall. Each time he is asked why he does not perform his duties, he replies, “I prefer not to” (Melville, par. 21).  In essence, Bartleby uses passive resistance to protest the nature of his workplace. Ultimately, the narrator relocates his office and Bartleby is arrested when he refuses to vacate the premises. Bartleby is taken to prison where he continues to challenge humanity’s norms. Bartleby, preferring not to eat, dies in prison. Bartleby is the hero of Melville’s story in his refusal to participate in a workplace that represents the sad, dreary atmosphere of a bureaucratic, industrialized society. Evidence of such a workplace can be seen in examination of Bartleby’s work environment, the nature of his work, the coping mechanisms of the copyists, and the values of his employer.

The environment of the law office is incredibly sterile and lifeless. The narrator describes the office as dusty, uncarpeted and having a haggard appearance. The view from one end is deficient of landscape while the other end offers a view of a brick wall. There is such a lack in furniture and décor that when the office is packed up and moved, it only takes a few hours. Bartleby works in the same room as the narrator; confined to a screened off section which the narrator calls a hermitage. He is kept out of sight but within sound’s reach if he is to be summoned.  Marcus interprets a sense of alienation and a feeling of being trapped: “The setting on Wall Street indicates that the characters are in a kind of prison, walled off from the world” (Lazzari 377).  Until now, the narrator has been shielded from the world’s despair but now he is forced to realize its presence is his own office. He has a moment of clarity: “Ah, happiness courts the light, so we deem the world is gay; but misery hides aloof, so we deem that misery there is none” (Melville, par. 89). Bureaucratic ideology surfaces when the narrator expresses a need to be near city hall. Bartleby is no stranger to dreary and bureaucratic environments as his previous employment was with a dead-letter office.  The reader may reasonably speculate that a dead letter office has a similar type of environment and a sense of hopelessness. It seems it is all Bartleby has ever experienced. The environment of the prison is also sad and bureaucratic. The prison is referred to as the tombs. The name implies it is a place for men to rot away and die instead of rehabilitate. The grub man asks the narrator, ““Does he want to starve? If he does, let him live on the prison fare, that’s all” (Melville, par. 225). The prisoners are condemned to a slow death because the prison fare is inadequate. Bartleby heroically refuses to accept society’s conditions via passive resistance and, finally, must give his life.

The nature of work at the law office is best described as dreary. It has a robotic quality. In fact, in modern times, copying is done almost exclusively by machines. The narrator describes one of the copyist’s duties: “Where there are two or more scriveners in an office, they assist each other in this examination, one reading from the copy, the other holding the original. It is a very dull, wearisome, and lethargic affair” (Melville, par. 19). The tasks of a scrivener are tedious and mind-numbing. The legal papers are essentially indecipherable and full of jargon. Bartleby implies they are of no value when he refuses to proof read his copies. It is a mechanical and monotonous profession that evokes depression. Bartleby’s eyes become “dull and glazed” (Melville, par. 131) from dreary incessant copying. With vision impaired he ceases all work obligations in protest. In the end, the narrator is compelled to discover an inner compassion which has been repressed by a dreary mundane practice.

A third indication of a sad and dreary workplace is the means of coping used by Bartleby and his fellow scriveners. One scrivener, named Turkey, is relentlessly perturbed. He is noisy, blots drafts and scatters papers about. Turkey resorts to alcoholism, rendering him ineffective by midday.  The narrator admits sadness to see a man of his age in such condition. He deduces Turkey is, “… a man whom prosperity harmed” (Melville, par. 11). The narrator does not accept that a sad and dreary workplace results in such behavior and instead blames prosperity. Another scrivener, Nippers, is frantically irritable. He copes by grinding his teeth, muttering and constantly readjusting his table. His speech is likened to hissing. Nippers is incapable of gathering himself until after midday. Bartleby begins as an efficient worker, perhaps to mask the sterility of the office, but loses motivation and unofficially resigns. He copes by complete withdrawal from normal life: “His refusal is paradoxical, for he rejects the illusion of personality in an impersonal world by retreating to another kind of impersonality which alone makes that world endurable” (Lazzari 377). He never speaks except to answer and stares through the window at a brick wall for a large fraction of the day. The narrator eventually recognizes that Bartleby’s soul is troubled and cannot be mended with material goods.  In effect, Bartleby does nothing more than subsist: “Upon more closely examining the place, I surmised that for an indefinite period Bartleby must have ate, dressed, and slept in my office, and that too without plate, mirror, or bed” (Melville, par. 87). Bartleby goes without basic necessities in protest. He prefers not to conform to an industrialized and beurocratic lifestyle and copes by abstaining.

The narrator’s values are exposed throughout the text. He describes himself as a lawyer who lacks ambition, refrains from addressing a jury, and does not seek public approval. The lawyer desires isolation and limits his affairs to include only affluent members of society. Marcus suggests, “The lawyer’s easygoing detachment- he calls himself an ‘eminently safe man’- represents an attempt at a calm adjustment to the Wall Street world, an adjustment which is threatened by Bartleby’s implicit, and also calm, criticism of its endless and sterile routine” (Lazzari 377). His work ethic and fear of taking risks yield a dreary environment whose primary focus is industry and bureaucracy. When Bartleby begins the job, he is valued for industriousness. At first, he is reliable, steady, and productive.  Bartleby has a constant demeanor and is always available when needed for copying of the highest priority. As long as the lawyer’s workers are industrious, he could care less about their psychological welfare or inner qualities such as character. When the lawyer is locked out and learns that Bartleby has been living in the office, he is more concerned about his authority being undermined. It is a very sad situation, when one values their authority over another’s state of well-being. The lawyer does become more generous, but, sadly, his motivation in not in helping Bartleby; it is to ease his own conscience. In a final attempt to ease his conscience and sever his ties with Bartleby, the lawyer offers Bartleby a pity disbursement. Bartleby declines, however, in such a bureaucratic organization, the show must go on.

Bartleby is not only heroic but becomes a martyr in giving his life to support a cause. His willpower and bravery are reflected in his determination to evade compliance. Bartleby observes the other scriveners and cannot accept coping as they have. He rejects sad and dreary elements of an industrialized and bureaucratic work environment; including the value system it represents. Bartleby embraces the power of choice as he prefers to withdraw. Choice being his only device, he battles the system until the bitter end. Bartleby concludes the morose nature of existence does not justify living. His sacrifice has a profound impact on the narrator. Perhaps, the lawyer will be inspired to implement invigoration and humanitarian values into his practice. In Bartleby’s ultimatum, he chooses death before submitting to society’s stranglehold.

Work Cited

Lazzari, Marie. Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. 49. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995. 375-430. Web. <http://galenet.galegroup.com.proxy.yc.edu/servlet/LitCrit?dd=0&locID=yava&d1=NCLC_049_0009&srchtp=b&c=14&df=r&d2=1&docNum=FJ3573150009&b0=bartleby&h2=1&vrsn=1.0&srs=ALL&b1=KE&d6=1&d3=1&ste=10&stp=DateDescend&d4=1.0&n=10&d5=d6>.  

Melville, Herman. Bartleby, The Scrivener, A Story of Wall-street. 2. New York: G&P Putnam & Co., 1853. Web. <http://www.bartleby.com/129/>.

Bartleby - Passage Analysis

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“Nothing so aggravates an earnest person as a passive resistance. If the individual so resisted be of a not inhumane temper, and the resisting one perfectly harmless in his passivity; then, in the better moods of the former, he will endeavor charitably to construe to his imagination what proves impossible to be solved by his judgment. Even so, for the most part, I regarded Bartleby and his ways. Poor fellow! thought I, he means no mischief; it is plain he intends no insolence; his aspect sufficiently evinces that his eccentricities are involuntary. He is useful to me. I can get along with him. If I turn him away, the chances are he will fall in with some less indulgent employer, and then he will be rudely treated, and perhaps driven forth miserably to starve. Yes. Here I can cheaply purchase a delicious self-approval. To befriend Bartleby; to humor him in his strange wilfulness, will cost me little or nothing, while I lay up in my soul what will eventually prove a sweet morsel for my conscience. But this mood was not invariable with me. The passiveness of Bartleby sometimes irritated me. I felt strangely goaded on to encounter him in new opposition, to elicit some angry spark from him answerable to my own. But indeed I might as well have essayed to strike fire with my knuckles against a bit of Windsor soap. But one afternoon the evil impulse in me mastered me, and the following little scene ensued" (Melville n.p.).

This passage is important because it demonstrates the inner conflict of the narrator regarding his evaluation of Bartleby. He describes Bartleby’s behavior as passive resistance. This description is effective because it is concise yet intricate.  Bartleby may appear to be openly defiant; however, he is not. Bartleby chooses his words carefully when he says “I would prefer not to”  (Melville n.p.). Instead of bluntly denying a request, he essentially says he would rather not; thus he chooses a passive approach. This is important because it leads the narrator to believe that his behavior is somehow of an involuntary nature. The narrator goes on to explain that if the person being resisted is not of a callous temper, and the resistor is not doing any harm, then the resisted may actually be sympathetic. He is inclined to favor compassion over logic. This is important because, under normal circumstances, a worker who performs inadequately will be terminated immediately. However, the narrator is able to overlook these behaviors, for a while, because he pities Bartleby. Occasionally, the narrator becomes irritated and feels the need to challenge Bartleby.  At this point in the story, Bartleby is still somewhat productive. As Bartleby gradually shifts towards total futility, the narrator becomes irritated more frequently.  After the narrator relocates and learns of Bartleby’s imprisonment, he is again struck with a wave of compassion. The narrator’s emotional duality is a major theme throughout the story as the reader sees him swing back and forth with his sentiments towards Bartleby. To learn more about duality, click here. The internal conflict affects the meaning of the story because, in the end, it teaches the narrator a lesson in humanity. He had an opportunity to offer Bartleby guidance and perhaps inspire him but, instead, he chose to abandon him to salvage his reputation.  He allows his concern for the opinions of others to override his conscience and, ultimately, seems to regret it. The narrator must experience guilt having speculated, correctly, the outcome of driving Bartleby away. He knew Bartleby's fate; he would be “driven forth miserably to starve" (Melville n.p.).

Work Cited

Melville, Herman. Bartleby, The Scrivener, A Story of Wall-street. 2. New York: G&P

            Putnam & Co., 1853. Web. <http://www.bartleby.com/129/>.

Summary and Analysis

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Summary and analysis have a precise relationship which allows the presentation of one’s interpretation. A summary is acquired through observation of literature. The observations are then compiled as evidence to support an analysis. Ultimately, the analyses offer support to the argument presented in one’s thesis statement. Individual claims, which are encompassed by the thesis, must be supported by relevant summary.

 In general, one should assume their audience has already read the literature in discussion. Therefore, use of summary, must be limited to specific details that relate to the analysis. One must use just enough summary to illustrate their points. A summary is not persuasive but rather informs; answering questions of who, what, where, why and how. It provides a context while excluding opinion. A summary may include sequence of events, specific accounts of scenes and pertaining characters, and descriptions of proceedings in the text. If I were summarizing the television show, “Breaking Bad,” I would say “Breaking Bad” is about a high-school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with lung cancer and resorts to manufacturing methamphetamine to provide for his family after his death.

 Analysis explains what one infers from the text. Its function is to critically evaluate. This requires the reader to read in between the lines, break the literature into pieces and examine its elements. In examination, it is essential to limit one’s focus to one or two elements. For example, one might choose to focus on a character’s relationship or apparent strengths and weaknesses. After examination, one must formulate an argument that explains meaning. It is important that the meaning of the arguments have significance to the meaning of the text as a whole. Using “Breaking Bad” again, I could argue that society is oppressing the chemistry teacher in the form of inadequate wages which forces him into a moral dilemma. He must prioritize his morals and, at the end of the day, the well-being of his family is of higher value than abiding by the law. Another central area of focus should be portions of the text that, at first glance, do not make sense. These are known as moments of cognitive dissonance. Once evaluated, such portions can provide valuable insight. To learn more about summary versus analysis click here.

Dr. Swift's Proposal

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In “A Modest Proposal,” Dr. Swift attempts to address some of the major problems in the country of Ireland in 1729 through satire. One problem that Dr. Swift identifies with society concerns its citizens bearing children without the means to support them. The parents are forced to resort to begging or other forms of charity to ensure their family’s survival. He first identifies mothers as the culprits, but then goes on to include fathers.  Dr. Swift, to some extent, attributes the current economic conditions as the cause and foundation for these matters which plague society. However, he implies that parents should not use this as an excuse, but rather have awareness of their inability to provide for their young before conceiving them.  Dr. Swift also makes mention of an excessive presence of Catholics in Irish society whom he refers to in a demeaning fashion as the Popish.  He also alludes to the greed and exploiting nature of the English saying “…and flesh being of too tender a consistence, to admit a long continuance in salt, although perhaps I could name a country, which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it.” (Swift) 

As a solution to these problems, Dr. Swift suggests sarcastically, that the children, one year of age, be gorged with food, slaughtered and served as a delicacy to affluent Irishmen.  This, of course, is not a serious suggestion, but instead serves as a wake up call for Irish citizens and creates awareness by ridiculing serious problems. Dr. Swift urges them to consider the harsh realities and take action. He is essentially making fun of the ignorance of the people. To learn more about Dr. Swift's life or see more his works; click here.

Ironically, Dr. Swift does present his solution logically. While it is an expedient, he provides many compelling arguments that illustrate the possible benefits of his solution.  For example, he discusses benefits which include but are not limited to economic progress, self-sustenance, improvement of family dynamics, replacement for a diminishing supply of venison, and removal of a great burden on society. He even goes to great lengths to describe the high quality of the meat derived from a one year old child, describing it as a dainty. However, it is obvious to all, except for the few remaining tribes that embrace cannibalism, that such a concept is profoundly savage, immoral and inhumane.  His concerns are very genuine yet he if so baffled by the lack of action that he chooses to mock a grave set of circumstances.   

Work Cited

Swift, Jonathan. "A Modest Proposal, by Jonathan Swift." Project Gutenberg, July 27, 2008. Web. 2 Feb 2012. <http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1080/1080-h/1080-h.htm>.