Bartleby, the
Scrivener - A mirror of modern society
Table
of contents
1.
Introduction
2
2.
Summary
3
3.
Bartleby – a mirror of modern society in the
19th century 4
4.
Wall Street – a walled street 6
5.
Bartleby – a lifelong prisoner 7
6.
Bartleby – an analogy of Jesus Christ 8
7.
Conclusion 11
8.
Bibliography 12
1.
Introduction
Living the 19th century, which was
characteristic for its changes in the working world, Herman Melville kept track
of these changes. In his first published short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener.
A story of Wall Street” picks out the social changes through the system of
modern society. By reading the story a lot of critiques of the modern busy
society of Wall Street become visible. It could be argued that Herman Melville
took Bartleby as an example of the failure of people in a society of profit and
progress. Bartleby is not able to survive in working world.
In my term paper I will focus on the character Bartleby
and how far he can be seen as a mirror of people in the 19th century
who are not able to meet demands.
2.
Summary
Herman
Melville’s first published short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener. A story of
Wall Street” appeared in the ‘Putnam’s Monthly Magazine’ in November and
December 1853. (Kelley 2006, 436)
Bartleby,
an unknown young man, is hired as a copyist by an elderly lawyer, the 3rd
person narrator, to work at his Wall Street office in New York City. After a
short time of doing a great job as a copyist Bartleby starts to refuse work and
cooperation. He only sits behind a folding screen and acts as if in a trance.
Bartleby seems to eat nearly nothing and he just stares out of the window at a
blank brick wall. A few weeks later the lawyer finds out that Bartleby also
sleeps and lives in his office when it is closed. After having offered Bartleby
a lot of possibilities to work on, the lawyer resigns because he is not able to
dispose Bartleby to copy or even do anything useful. Even when the lawyer tries
to fire him, Bartleby stays where he is. Therefore the lawyer decides to move
to another office and to leave Bartleby behind. But Bartleby stays where he is
and sleeps in the office entryway until he is arrested for vagrancy. Having a
guilty conscience after that, the lawyer visits Bartleby in prison, where he
finds him staring at a blank wall. He refuses the food the lawyer buys for him
and on his second visit the lawyer finds the dead Bartleby lying in front of
the wall. A few weeks later the lawyer finds out that Bartleby worked at a
‘dead letter office’ before. (Rollyson; Paddock 2001, 10)
3.
Bartleby – A mirror of modern society in the
19th century
By
giving the story the subtitle ‘A story of Wall Street’ Herman Melville alludes
to widespread ways of interpretation. “The law office, its employer and
employees, its interior arrangements and procedures epitomize the American
financial world, with its power structure, division of labor, and distribution
of profits, all contributing to a hardening system of class and caste
relationships” (Kelley 2006, 436) Written at a time of change, the story
criticizes the financial world of Wall Street and its aftermath.
Getting
into the story by arriving like an ‘advent’ Bartleby is thrown into a world he
is not able to handle. The reader does not get to know any information from his
point of view because the story is told through the eyes of the narrator who
tries to interpret the behavior of Bartleby. He could be interpreted as a
useless and senseless person who does not do anything but being a victim of the
decisions which are made by the persons around him. His only acting is his
repeated refuse ‘I would prefer not to’ (Schunk 1985, 27). He refuses to work,
refuses to answer questions and refuses to leave when he gets fired. In the end
he refuses to eat and then prefers to die. Although he does not do anything
actively, but without him the whole story would not be possible. By giving
Bartleby the description ‘the Scrivener’ Melville puts a meaning into his
character. While Bartleby does not write at all, the writing and therefore the
refusing to write or copy is put in the focus of attention. (Kelley 2006, 436)
Why
does Bartleby refuse everything he is asked to do? The answer lies behind
Bartleby’s behavior. He is not able or willing to satisfy the criteria of his
job. He acts like a person who lives in the wrong world. Things that seem
normal to people like a social community and family around him or even a place
to live, he cannot exhibit. He does not seem to have a home or any contact to
other persons except the members of the office. He is a stranger in a world
where everything is organized and fixed.
Nevertheless
it could actually appear that there are persons in the story who seem to be
able to work and act in the way they should. The three employees of the lawyer,
Turkey, Ginger Nut and Nippers, do their job temporarily. But every one of them
has a specific spleen and so everybody is in a way unreliable. Therefore the
members of the office are also not able to work efficiently and Bartleby only overbids
them by refusing everything. (Khodambashi 2010, 211) It appears that every
person in the office, maybe except the lawyer, is out of control. The three
employees behave in a strange way and do not do a got job. Working at the office
at Wall Street they are getting more and more crazy. Bartleby then is only the
perfection of their behavior. They do a half a day job and he does not do
anything. Taking in consideration the subject of work, the copying of texts, it
could be argued that people are not able to do rational, uniform and also
boring work without losing their mind. It becomes obvious that by working at
Wall Street the employees lose their rationality by doing rational things.
At
the beginning of the story Bartleby does his job mechanically and silently and
the lawyer is content with him. (Schunk 1985, 17) But later on he seems to
change his mind completely and so he rejects all his work assignments. He
prefers to stare at the wall in front of his office- window and stops to work.
Bartleby
is a good example of a young man who does not fit into a rational world. He is
not even able to break out and leave but seems paralyzed. The only escape he
finds is to refuse his work and to stare at something outside to forget what is
inside. He does not feel comfortable by being asked about private issues and
prefers to keep his life story private. Although the lawyer really tries to help
him and to integrate him in the community of the office, he fails and Bartleby
becomes an outsider. His trance-like behavior could be interpreted as the
mental way to escape. By even living in the office Bartleby becomes a prisoner
of his working place. He has no friends or family he could move to and
therefore he stays at the only place he actually knows. Only by getting
arrested Bartleby leaves this place to become a prisoner of a new one: a real
prison. Taken out of his familiar surrounding Bartleby is not able to live. He
dies as a unknown young man who could not survive the rational world of Wall
Street. The only hope one could have is that through his death he might be able
to live in a new and better world.
At
the end of the story the lawyer cries out ‘Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!’ (Schunk
1985, 66) which directly leads to the conviction that Bartleby is a symbol for
humanity in the 19th century. Bartleby fails and so does the modern society.
People like Bartleby fail in modern society because they cannot perform their
tasks and so they fall through.
Wall
Street is presented as a place where humanity is avoided and excluded.
Financial progress has become more important than interpersonal relationship
and compassion.
4.
Wall Street – a walled street
With
a view to the subtitle of Bartleby “A Story of Wall Street” the reader is
directly led to have a closer look upon the setting of the story. The office of
the lawyer is in the middle of Wall Street. By finding out details about the
exact location of the office it becomes obvious that it is surrounded by walls
of other buildings. There is no incident solar radiation and less natural
light. By looking out of the window the employees cannot see the sky but only
look at walls. For them, Wall Street becomes a walled street. The walls seem to
be the “controlling symbols of the story” (Buchloch; Krüger 1974, 356). Dismal
walls limit the sight of the employees and the mood seems to be depressive. The
lawyer calls the view “rather tame than otherwise deficient in what landscape
painters call ‘life’” (Schunk 1985, 6). The exact floor plan of the office
shows that also in the office there are walls that are separating the
employees. All in all everybody is more or less isolated and hemmed by the
walls around him.
The
subtitle is also an allusion to the concept and nature of society in New York.
(Kelley 1996, 11) There is no space for amusement or freedom. Wall Street is a
place of rationality and financial progress surrounded by insurmountable walls.
It is “a commercial society, dominated by a concern with property and finance”
(Buchloch; Krüger 1974, 356). People are hemmed in a world of buildings and
work.
Bartleby
then messes this world by not sticking to the rational rules. At the beginning
of the story he seems to be able to do his job, but later on he prefers
refusing the orders of his boss and begins to stare at the blank walls of the
office. He isolates himself from the rest of the employees and does not stick
to any common rule of an office at Wall Street. He somehow seems not only to
refuse orders but to refuse Wall Street as a whole system. (Khodambashi 2010,
212)
5.
Bartleby – The lifelong prisoner
As
already mentioned the location of the office is surrounded by walls. Bartleby
becomes a part of the office community and from this day on he does not leave
the office voluntarily. The walls delimit his living and working space. For
Bartleby there seems to be no way out again. The reader does not know where
Bartleby comes from and suddenly he is the one who does not like to go.
Becoming an employee of the lawyer’s office Bartleby is separated from his
coworkers and has to sit behind the ground- glass folding door next to his
boss. So there are not only walls around the office, but also frontiers in the
office. Although they are transparent they mean separation. Therefore not only
the external world is delimiting him, also the internal world hems his living
space continuously. (Buchloch; Krüger 1974, 359) When Bartleby starts to stare
at the brick wall it appears that he is somehow fascinated, maybe even
paralyzed, by the frontier right in front of him.
Furthermore,
the lawyer is not able to define the color of the wall in front of Bartley. He
cannot even specify the color and can only tell the reader that it is somehow
without any color, just blank. Only for Bartleby the wall seems to have a
deeper meaning because ”only Bartleby faces the stark problem of perception
presented by the walls” (Buchloch; Krüger 1974, 360). It appears that “the
nature of the wall with which the enigmatic Bartleby is confronted can account
for his strange behavior later” (Buchloch; Krüger 1974, 360).
In
the first part of Bartleby’s life the reader learns about walls play a dominate
role for him. They delimit his life and fascinate him at the same time.
Bartleby seems to be hypnotized by things that would lead other people to
become crazy or feel trapped. Possibly Bartleby also feels trapped. He feels
hemmed but at the same time he does not see any possibility to escape. Maybe
therefore he does not want to leave that place. He seems to be a prisoner of
society, a prisoner of Wall Street and a prisoner of himself who is unable to
do anything useful. Concerning Bartley being a symbol or mirror of society it
becomes clear that working in a space that is delimited, people can tend to
lose control and start to become crazy. Paralyzed by all the walls around them
they maybe lose also their ability to live, and so does Bartleby.
6.
Bartleby - an analogy for Jesus Christ.
Beside many hints and nominations of important persons
during the 19th century, “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville is also
peppered with a lot of Christ- analogies. In the following I want to point some
of them out. Right at the beginning of the short story the arrival of Bartleby
is described as an “advent”(Schunk 1985, 16) This advent, slightly
inconsiderable for the reader, can be paraphrased as “arrival” or “onset”.
Every Christian knows the advent- period, when the celebration of the arrival
of Jesus Christ (Christmas) is prepared. So even in the first scene Bartleby
comes up, he is already spotlighted. Furthermore, advent can also be
interpreted as the incarnation of God. Jesus, the God’s solely son comes to
earth to become a human being. Therefore Bartleby’s arrival can be seen as the
advent of Jesus Christ who died for humanity.
A second indication might be that Bartleby is called “the
strangest scrivener” of “whom nothing is ascertainable”. (Schunk 1985, 3) Through
nearly the whole story Bartleby refuses to do what the notary he is working
for, as well as other people, want him to do. First he only refuses to copy
some papers for the notary, but his refuse compounds more and more. In the end
of the story he even refuses to eat and so he also refuses to live. This
strength of abandonment or fasting can be also alienated to the behavior of
Jesus Christ. When Jesus recognized he was betrayed he decides to die for the
sins of humanity. And even today there is the Lenten season to remember what
Jesus did for us. Moreover, Jesus Christ was the son of God and therefore holy
and ascertainable. Although having the appearance of a human he often explains
that he is the son of God and is sent to the humans to show them the right way.
While Jesus workes wonders, Bartleby behaves irrational and free from every
instruction. Bartleby stands above all members of the notary office.
Third, Bartleby is described by the lawyer as the
“forlornest of mankind”. Although his boss the notary treats Bartleby very
considerately, the notary somehow betrays Bartleby three times. The first time
when he dismisses him, the second time when he moves with his office to another
building and the third time when he does not care that Bartleby got arrested.
These betrayals can be connected to the scene in the Bible, when Jesus Christ
is condemned to death and Petrus disowns him. Although Petrus knows that Jesus
will die, he is not able to be honest but hides himself behind a denial. And so
does the notary. Although he knows that Bartleby is somehow helpless and alone,
he decides to be rational and only wants to get rid of Bartleby. Even though
Bartleby gets arrested, the notary only checks out if he is fine (so that he
need not to feel guilty) but does not try to get him out of prison. So both,
Jesus and Bartleby, die knowing that they were betrayed by a person of trust.
A further point is that Bartleby dies surrounded by
“murderers and thieves” (Schunk 1985, 62). Like Jesus Christ was not guilty but
crucified together with sinners and murderers, also Bartleby dies in prison
without having really done something bad to someone. Only his strict refuses
brought him there, but it seems as if Bartleby does not prefer to live a
life in this cold and lonely world of Wall Street.
All these allusions which point to Jesus Christ can be
read as a further argument that Bartleby mirrors the society of western world.
(Khodambashi 2010, 214) The major religion there is Christianity and Christians
believe in Jesus Christ as their martyr who died for their sins. (Buchloch;
Krüger 1974, 383) Bartleby shows up as an advent and lives a life where nobody
follows him anymore. In this new world of finance and profit there is no space
for things like religion or spirituality. Bartleby as Jesus seems to be an
alienated person in this world and goes as he has come: as a meaningless and
forgettable person who was not able to stick to the rules of a world which he
does not understand and the world does not dare to see what is important for
life. In the end he dies alone under murderers and thieves. Moreover, when the
lawyer visits him in prison, Bartleby tells the lawyer that he knows where he
his (Schunk 1985, 62). The Scrivener seems to know exactly where he is, namely
in a cold world with walls that hem the spirit and make life impossible. He
actually mirrors the society he lives in and, moreover, the nature of every
human being.
7.
Conclusion
Taking
Bartleby as an example of a man who lives in the world of finance in the 19th
century it becomes obvious that Herman Melville criticizes Wall Street and, by
taking a closer look, he also criticizes society or humanity in general. Every
employee of the lawyer has somehow lost his mind and is partly unable to work.
Bartleby, a particularly serious case, refuses to work at all. Although the
lawyer really tries to help Bartleby, he is not able to save his life. His
humanity fails and Bartleby, as a symbol or mirror of society, also fails and
dies. The answer to the question of the meaning of the story seems to be not
easy and clear to give. Herman Melville certainly wrote the story to create an
ambiguity so that there is more than only one way of interpreting the story.
Including
so many allusions and hints the short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener” can be
read in many different ways and contexts. As well as in a lot of his other
stories it becomes obvious for the reader that every single story by Herman
Melville is a perfect story of ambiguity. Bartleby fascinates and confuses at
the same time. Creating a character like Bartleby Herman Melville also brought
a person into being that one can identify with, although Bartleby himself is so
ambiguous. Bartleby fails. The lawyer fails. Society fails. Ah, Bartleby! Ah,
humanity!
8.
Bibliography
Buchloch, Paul G.; Krüger, Hartmut
1974: Herman Melville. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt.
Kelley, Wyn 1996: Melville’s
City. Literary and Urban Form in Nineteenth-
Century New York. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Kelley, Wyn
(Ed.) 2006: A Companion to Herman Melville. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Malden.
Khodambashi, Kaveh
2010: Analysis of Alienation, Writing, and Labor in ‘Bartleby, the Scrivener’.
[
Rollyson, Carl; Paddock, Lisa
2001: Herman Melville A to Z. The essential reference to his life and work.
Facts on file, New York.
Schunk, Ferdinand
(Ed.) 1985: Herman Melville. Bartleby. Philipp Reclam jun. GmbH & Co,
Stuttgart.
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