Melville

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**Background:** //Bartleby, the Scrivener//, further known as "//Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street//" is exactly what it says, a story that takes place during the times of Wall Streets emergence following the age of industrialization. The story first appeared in 1853, anonymously submitted to //Putnam's Magazine// in two different sections, spread among the November and December editons. Later on the story was reprinted with minor alterations in 1856 in //The Piazza Tales//.

About the Author:
Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was a very diverse writer. Melville was a novelist, an essay writer, a short story writer and finally a poet, experimenting with many different forms of written mediums. Stories in which brought him fame and that are the most recognizable include //Moby Dick//, //Billy Budd// and //Typee//, all written during his early career. However, around the mid-1850's, Melville's fame and popularity were quickly lost, and never recovered. Important factors to note during Melville's life were his birth as the third of eventually eight children in New York City, as well as his early life. Melville was sent to Columbia Prepatory School, then soon after was forced to move with his family to Albany, in which his father was attempting to recover in the Fur Business. However this venture failed miserably and Allan Melville was forced to declare bankruptcy. Not too much long afterwards, Allan died leaving his family and a 12 year old Herman Melville penniless.

On the American Dream:
What is the American Dream? Although there are many different answers to that question, the best way to sum it all up is our freedom that includes a promise of success and prosperity. All the varying definitions can be summed up into this broad category. As such, there are two prevalent stances found within //Bartleby, The Scrivener// that accurately show both the success and failure of individuals attempting to live the "American Dream."

The successful individuals could be labeled as the narrator and Gingernut. The narrator, owning a business and living quite comfortably while his employees were struggling accurately shows the accepted social norms of society. Feeling no remorse over Turkey and Nippers financial situation, nor their working conditions, the Narrator demonstrates the accepted position as one who owns his own business. The success and the position of the narrator shows a state of being that many Americans wished to gain, which could be labeled as "The American Dream." Gingernut, on the otherhand, although significantly underpaid, would be doing what many college students attempt to find, an internship. That is why even though Gingernut is underpaid, being at such a young age but gathering business experience in an "unpaid internship" is ultimately a sign of his attempt at moving towards the American Dream with a future prospect of success and prosperity brought about by work experience.

Bartleby is a prime example of an individual who pursued the American Dream but failed miserably. As we first find out, Bartleby had a job working at the Dead Letters Office, which the reader can say ultimately destroyed his sanity, as becomes apparent by his attitude and actions while working as a Scrivener. Barteby's passive protests and eventual refusal to work can also be interpreted as his denial of the American Dream. In fact, Bartleby's character could reflect Allan Melville, who failed in his attempt to find the American Dream and eventually died, just like Bartleby. Other characters who could arguably have failed to obtain the American Dream would be Nippers and Turkey, both of whom are considerably underpaid. Turkey attempts to solve his problems with liquor during the afternoons, whereas Nippers is often seen arriving hung-over and unproductive. Furthermore, Nippers is constantly hounded by debt collectors even while in the office working. During the rise of the middle class which was taking place during this time period, many individuals were losing sight of the American Dream, or for that matter barely making ends meet to survive. These individuals could very well be represented by the characters Turkey and Nippers, and Bartleby could represent what the emergence of the middle class was doing to society. By increasing the amount of redundant jobs in which the worker was completing the same tasks day-in and day-out, Melville might have been trying to infer that this new middle class was causing the American Dream to become stagnant.

Important Quotations:
Throughout the story there are several different quotations which showcase some of the themes contained. One such example that shows off the theme of isolation could include:
 * “I placed his desk close up to a small side-window in that part of the room, a window which originally had afforded a lateral view of certain grimy back-yards and bricks, but which, owing to subsequent erections, commanded at present no view at all, though it gave some light. Within three feet of the panes was a wall, and the light came down from far above, between two lofty buildings, as from a very small opening in a dome. Still further to a satisfactory arrangement, I procured a high green folding screen, which might entirely isolate Bartleby from my sight, though not remove him from my voice. And thus, in a manner, privacy and society were conjoined.” ||

This environment serves to show physical isolation on top of Bartleby’s already mental isolation from society. The only one who really served to reach out to Bartleby was the narrator, however the question that arises would be if the narrators actions were beneficial to Bartleby in anyway, or did they just help lead Bartleby down the path that eventually led to his demise? Furthermore, throughout the entire story Bartleby only shows up in two different settings, the office and the prison. Even after the narrator moves the office to another building, Bartleby stays at the vacated premises, signifying that Bartleby wasn't attached to the narrator, rather the office and goes to further show Bartleby’s isolation.

Food is a theme that is continually showcased throughout the story. Rather it be through characters names, comparisons to other characters, or even, specifically in Bartleby's case, the lack of an intake of food, the theme recurs often. One example of which can be found as follows: This quote serves to point out two key elements. The first is that Bartleby consumes very little food, showing a lack of nourishment which ironically is what causes his death at the end of the story. The second is the comparison of Bartleby to ginger. Bartleby is often described as a ghost like figure, cold and pallid, completely the opposite of the food in which he was compared with. The comparison showcases Melville's attempt at a sort of humor which is sparsely found within this particular story, at least outside of food topics.
 * “He lives, then, on ginger-nuts, thought I; never eats a dinner, properly speaking; he must be a vegetarian then; but no; he never eats even vegetables, he eats nothing but ginger-nuts. My mind then ran on in reveries concerning the probable effects upon the human constitution of living entirely on ginger-nuts. Ginger-nuts are so called because they contain ginger as one of their peculiar constituents, and the final flavoring one. Now what was ginger? A hot, spicy thing. Was Bartleby hot and spicy? Not at all. Ginger, then, had no effect upon Bartleby. Probably he preferred it should have none.” ||

The above quotation is one of the most commonly used throughout the entire story, and in some cases really showcases the story. By passively refusing to doing work, we could assume that Bartleby is refusing to conform to Wall Street and it's expectations. In a society and environment in which people would do anything in an attempt to get ahead in life, Bartleby acts as the sole individual to stay stagnant. The mysteries will still remain with this quotation which will be analyzed in many different ways, adding to the value of this trademark quotation.
 * = "I would prefer not to." ||

//Sources:// //Kaveh, Khodambashi. "Analysis of Alienation, Writing, and Labor in 'Bartleby, the Scrivener." //English Language Teaching //3.4 (2010): 209-215.// Education Research Complete //. EBSCO. Web. 2 May 2011.// []

Anderson, Walter E. "FORM AND MEANING IN 'BARTLEBY THE SCRIVENER'." //Studies in Short Fiction //18.4 (1981): 383. //Academic Search Complete //. EBSCO. Web. 2 May 2011. []

And of course:


 * AUTHOR: || [|Melville, Herman], 1819–1891. ||
 * TITLE: || [|Bartleby, the Scrivener]. A Story of Wall-street, by Herman Melville. ||
 * JOURNAL: || Putnam’s Monthly. A Magazine of Literature, Science, and Art. New York [etc.], G. P. Putnam & Co. [etc.]. ||
 * CITATION: || Vol. II—November 1853.—No. XI, pp. 546–557; Concluded Vol II.—December 1853.—No. XII, pp. 609–615. ||