Society and fate often restrict individuality and freedom of choice, and
Melville (in "Bartleby") uses images of confinement, communication/lack thereof,
and instances of fate vs. free will to prove this. 1. The restriction that
society and fate put on people's individuality and freedom of choice can be seen
through the images of confinement that Melville uses in "Bartleby". 2. Bartleby
exercised his freedom of choice when he "gently disappeared behind the screen"
in the narrator's office, but only because there was something else he wanted to
do, but couldn't. 3. Bartleby is a mysterious character who does things for
reasons unknown to anyone else. 3. He one day just stops doing work, he hardly
ever, if ever, leaves his boss' office (which is confinement), all he eats is
ginger nuts, and then he goes to jail for it, but nobody knows the reasons for
his actions and he doesn't care to tell them. 3. It is clear by his actions,
that Bartleby although seeming to be exercising his right of free will, Bartleby
has to resort to confining himself in his employer's office because there is
something else he wants to do, but can't because of the tight restrictions
society has put on him. 2. At one point in the story the narrator describes how
"a voice came to me from within" the confinement of his office where the owner
of the voice had been all night, which would have been against the narrator's
will had he known beforehand that the man was going to be staying there. 3.
Indeed the voice coming from within the narrator's office was Bartleby's, who
had stayed the night there with no hassles from anyone else because they knew
not of his decision to stay there for the night. 3. So, it was not until the
morning after that the narrator knew someone had been sleeping in his office and
using it as his home. 3. But Bartleby did not just occupy the office at night,
he also used it as his home during the day,...