Theme in Melville's "Bartleby,
Theme in Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener": "Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!" says narrator at the end of the story (Melville 140). What is humanity in today's society? Is that just another phrase that has no real meaning, or is it something that we used to have? Isolation from humanity, and alienation from ourselves inevitably leads to destruction of personality and finally to devastation of our physical being. Alienation and destruction is also in Herman Melville's short story "Bartleby the Scrivener". This story depicts the conflict in the workplace between the narrator who is the lawyer and young, skinny, common, passive man named Bartleby. The author's theme, that alienating qualities may inhibit humanity, and that those qualities eventually lead to destruction of humanity itself, is reflected through specific characters and their actions at work, and may be traced through the development of the story. The alienation of the individual in modern, industrial society is clearly seen in the character of Bartleby. At first, Bartleby is the best worker. La
Also, Bartleby's alienation from society and himself is largely supported by the actions of the narrator, which detach Bartleby even further from the world and its values: "I placed his desk close up to a small side window. The walls of silence are actually the terror of limitation and only the scream of humanity can conquer them. Also, Bartleby has the strange habit of staring out of the window, where he faces another wall. The lawyer is trying to help him thinking that by doing this he will help himself. His alienation leads him to the deep state of depression, and eventually to his own death. Bartleby, due to his specific isolation of mind is more detached in a real life and total separation leads to his physical destruction. ter on he refuses to work in very direct and extremely passive way. At the end of the story, the narrator-lawyer finds the revelation for himself. The alienation is on the mental level more than on any other level. Was it possible to overcome the communication struggle between Bartleby and the lawyer, or is it better to state, between the walls of silence and the walls of non-understanding? The actions shown in the story represent more of the spiritual struggle than a struggle on a level of physical existence. Before he came to work for the narrator, Bartleby was employed at Dead Letter Office at Washington, "from which he had been suddenly removed by a change in the administration" (140). It represents the alienation not only from society but also from himself. It tells us how he isolates himself from any kind of involvement that constitutes society's backbone.
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Acceptance Essays
