Bartleby
“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.”
After reading the story by Herman Melville, Bartleby, the
Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street, I began to scratch my head. This story
is very difficult to comprehend and interpret and a reader must really try to
read between the lines to find out what Melville was trying to convey. From what
I could understand, this story is about a lawyer on Wall Street who employs
several scriveners in his small office. It appears that this lawyer (who is
also the narrator) seems intrigued by all the men he employs, giving full descriptions
of them. He is most intrigued by a particular one of the four, Bartleby, due to
his insistence of passive resistance, even to the most routine tasks. After the
lawyer asks Bartleby to help him review a document, Bartleby replies “I would
prefer not to.” This response surprises the lawyer, as he expected Bartleby to
give complete obedience, seeing as how Bartleby was an excellent employee at
first. It is hard to say if the lawyer feels bad for Bartleby, or feels pity,
anger, or perplexity. What is known is that the lawyer cannot wrap his head
around this strange scrivener he employs, yet he feels bound to keeping him,
rather than firing him because he does not feel that he is being intentionally
rebellious. I especially liked this passage because it really showed how the
lawyer felt bound to Bartleby, even though he had shown disobedience to
complete routine tasks. Overall, I was not a fan of this particular reading, but it was interesting and made me really have to work hard at comprehension.
I enjoyed your post and image. I agree with you that there was a bond of some sort between Bartleby and the narrator. It seemed like the narrator was so intrigued by bartleby that it created this weird connection. I don't believe it was a very strong bond. The lawyer did little to help but just enough to keep his head above water. The narrator even avoided Bartleby when he moved his practice at the time when he needed help.
ReplyDeleteKyle,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. Your pictures were clever and relevant. I also had a difficult time reading this story and making complete sense of it, though I managed to get through it. I also came up with the same conclusions you did for the most part. I also thought that Bartleby was a lonely and depressed man.
The first time I read this story I also did not really understand the point and did not really enjoy it. It seemed to go very slow and I was bored. But as I read it a second and third time I started to really enjoy the slow, but very detailed beginning. Each time I felt myself get closer to each of the characters. This story has made me decide to read some more of Melville's works. Thanks for adding the link about him.
ReplyDeleteKyle,
ReplyDeleteWell put. I agree with this story being hard to comprehend. One thing that got to me was the way that he let Bartleby run all over him. It seems to me that it was some what codependent. The lawyer needed Bartleby to fulfill his inner sense of charity. Great work keep it up.
Kyle,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the story is very hard to understand. It took me a few times to really get what the author was trying to get across. I think that the lawyer really liked Bartleby. Before he even saw where Bartleby lived he felt compassion towards him, all the other stuff he found out was just an add on. I could also see where readers might think the lawyer only saw Bartleby as a charity case. Good job.
Brettney Stults
I agree with you. I had a hard time understanding the story at first too. He seemed to enjoy his employees, possibly because he did not take himself or others too seriously and enjoyed life.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with you about the reading being completely hard to understand, and you got pretty much the same thing out of it that I did, that for some reason the author felt some bond between him and Bartleby.
ReplyDelete