Literary Essay on Bartleby The Scrivener by Herman Melville
The short story of Bartleby The Scrivener, written by Herman Melville uses symbolism, allegory and imagery at its best. The sadness and emotionless of Bartleby symbolises “Death and Its trappings”. It seems that working in the Dead Letter Office in Washington has made him all engulfed and completely surrounded with death and gloominess. From the very moment Bartleby walked into the Wall Street office and started working with the Narrator, Narrator has always noticed him to be sullen and down in the dumps (Melville). This is the reason why has been described as “cadaverous” in a very relentless and incessant manner by the narrator (Steve).
The narrator has portrayed Bartleby as a corpse in a very chilling form which both evokes fear as well as sympathy in him as well as in the minds of the reader too. Even when the character Bartleby is alive technically, there is some sullen quality about him which can be seen from phrases like “dead wall reveries” (Melville, Bartleby, the Scrivener. A Story of Wall-street,). Even the office in the Melville’s story is not any swanky Wall Street office rather it symbolises a workspace where human relationships develop.
Herman Melville’s story depicts office as an odd test ground where the extreme limits of personal interactions are being put to test (Bartleby the Scrivener ANalysis).This is being highlighted by the fact that none of the characters has been depicted interacting outside the office space in the whole story.
Even the genre chosen for Bartleby The Scrivener is certainly very odd one. But if we study the story of Bartleby closely we will realise that Bartleby depicts the parable of the emotionless modern world through the Melville’s story. In today’s technology-driven world there are devastating effects of technology on human emotions like high level of individualism and threats of alienation engulfing every society and human beings. The story of Bartley reminds us of the famous poet’s lines “No man is an island” which means that “No man should be an island”. Bartleby’s replies which were mostly “I would prefer not to make a change” or “I would prefer not to quit” all signify his self-indulgent and portrays him as self-unmade man (Bartleby the Scrivener ANalysis).
If we check the tone of the story it also seems mystified and elegiac. All through the story it seems the narrator is dwindling between two states that are: profound sadness and extreme confusion. While telling Bartley’s story his tone reflects both these feelings. Moreover the emotional involvement of the narrator is also quite visible in all the events. Like he never chucked Bartleby out of the office rather decided to change his premises (Steve). While leaving also he handed over Bartleby some extra money.
Thus from the whole in-depth study of the short story ‘Bartleby The Scrivener’ written by Herman Melville it is evident that the modern world is strongly a replica of the main character , the Bartleby who is very much gloomy and pessimistic (Griffith). Bartleby’s character seems to be a little frightening, emotionless and pathetic at the same time. However Melville has tried his best to add some comedy to the tragic tale which conveys serious yet true message. The whole story is very much descriptive and slyly comical at the same time.
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