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Bartleby the scrivener summary
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Critical analysis of bartleby the scrivener
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The Uncompromising Code of Bartleby the Scrivener
There are certain social codes that we are expected to follow. They are too numerous and obscure to know-but for the most part, they don't need to be known. The unspoken, unwritten set of rules we are obligated to live by are subtly imbued in us from birth. When we live outside those boundaries and follow our own desires, we are walking on thin ice. An eccentric choice in wardrobe or unusual habits can make the difference between being considered an individual who "thinks outside of the box," or just a plain old lunatic. When someone refuses to adhere to our social codes, they become suspect. But what drives them, enables them to refuse in the first place?
Melville seemed to have a good idea of what it feels like to be in such a position. The American Tradition in Literature discusses how "like Bartleby, Melville was a 'scrivener,' or writer. Melville also refused to copy out the ideas of others, or even his own, in response to popular demand. He too 'preferred' to withdraw"(Perkins 1564). So far it sounds like Melville was almost certainly creating something "out of himself." Additionally, Melville "distrusted the economic compulsion of society; he resented the financial assistance of his wife's father"(1564). This story comes from an artist reliant on only himself, true to his own nature.
Bartleby is merely an exaggeration of this individual way of thinking. Melville presents a distorted image of independence from civil constraint, one that goes so far that it results in a sort of social anarchy. But considering the scrivener's background, it isn't hard to understand how he came to be such a social miscreant.
Bartleby comes to his employer from a dead l...
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...o the boss every once in a while-or to our spouse, our family, people on the street. No, you can't cut into my lane. No, you can't check out ahead of me even though you've only got the one can of beans. No, you can't change the channel, or ask me to pick the children up from practice.
How easy to give up. How easy to let the responsibilities rest with another. We already know what rewards the other men have received for their admirable and semi-socially acceptable behavior. Neurosis, alcoholism, ulcers, and envy. All things considered, it seems that Bartleby is the most sound of them all.
Works Cited
Perkins, Barbara, and George Perkins, ed. The American Tradition in Literature. Boston:McGraw-Hill College, 1999.
Perry, Dennis R. "'Ah, humanity': Compulsion Neurosis in Melville's 'Bartleby'". Studies in Short Fiction 24.4 (1987): 407-415.
People one can never really tell how person is feeling or what their situation is behind closed doors or behind the façade of the life they lead. Two masterly crafted literary works present readers with characters that have two similar but very different stories that end in the same result. In Herman Melville’s story “Bartleby the Scrivener” readers are presented with Bartleby, an interesting and minimally deep character. In comparison to Gail Godwin’s work, “A Sorrowful Woman” we are presented with a nameless woman with a similar physiological state as Bartleby whom expresses her feelings of dissatisfaction of her life. Here, a deeper examination of these characters their situations and their ultimate fate will be pursued and delved into for a deeper understanding of the choice death for these characters.
Bartleby demonstrates behaviours indicative of depression, the symptoms he has in accordance with the DSM-IV are a loss of interest in activities accompanied by a change in appetite, sleep, and feelings of guilt (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, 320). Very shortly after Bartleby begins his work as a Scrivener he is described by the narrator as having done “nothing but stand at his window in his dead-wall revery”. (Melville, 126) In contrast, Bartleby had previously been described as a very hard worker and this process of doing increasingly less shows how his a diminishing sense of interest both in his work but also of the perception others have of him. It is also noted that included in this lack of interest is a social withdrawal (DSM—IV, 321) which corresponds well to Bartleby in that his workspace becomes known as his “hermitage”. During small talk which included Bartleby he says that he “would prefer to be left alone”. (Melville, 120) Bartleby only emerges from his hermitage when called upon and quickly returns when faced with confrontation.
In Herman Melville's short story, Bartleby, the Scrivener, the narrator's attitude towards Bartleby is constantly changing, the narrator's attitude is conveyed through the author's use of literary elements such as; diction-descriptive and comical, point of view-first person, and tone-confusion and sadness.
Through Bartleby’s flat and static character type, it is amazing how many different types of conflict he causes. From the first order to examine the law copies, to the last request to dine in the prison, Bartleby’s conflictive reply of “I would prefer not to” stays the same (Melville 150). In this way, he is a very simple character, yet he is still very hard to truly understand. Even ...
Bartleby’s wasting away strikes a chord with the Narrator as he cries out, “Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity,” drawing the connection between the two (Melville 34). The Narrator’s desperate cry exposes the far-reaching significance of Bartleby and the fate his passing indicates for the rest of humanity. For this reason, I contend that pigeonholing Melville’s “Bartleby, The Scrivener” into a series on analogies for the Occupy movement is an unethical misuse of Melville’s short story. One analogy Castronovo points to is charity: “Like the scrivener who refuses the narrator’s charity because its ultimate goal is to justify the system for accruing wealth that the lawyer represents, the occupiers…proved uninterested in reforms that seemed intended merely to ensure that the financial system could go on functioning as before” (Castronovo 253). Bartleby’s ethics are not nearly as explicit as the occupiers and to allege that he refuses the Narrator’s charity for the same reasons as them, simplifies Melville’s purpose for Bartleby; his wasting away cannot be analogous with the occupier’s simply being
Parker, who wrote the script with Catherine di Napoli, has transported Melville’s story into a surreal contemporary nowhere world,” (Scott, 2001). The last resource being used in this research paper is an article wrote by Damon smith called “Poorly conceived “Bartleby” fails to bring characters to life”, this article discusses the drastic changes in the 2001 film “Bartleby”, compared to Melville’s original writings. Smith feels that these changes does not give Melville’s short story the justice that it deserves. These three sources are credible scholar articles that will provide comparative information to help support my thesis as well as primary points with this research. There are more differences in the movie and book that effect the way that the short story may have been perceive in its time. Parker takes a 18th century story and modernizes it to fit a culture that the viewers are in to help them to understand what Melville was trying to interpret in his writings. To some those drastic changes dampened the story and to others it made it more understandable and exciting. This research will show those differences as well as the similarities and show that the symbolism in both kinds of literature is the
"Bartleby the Scrivener” is a story writer by Herman Melville published in1853 that now is one of the most famous American short stories.The story is about Bartleby who was hired by a Wall Street lawyer to copy legal documents by hand. Bartleby was a well motivated employee who also was capable to process a large volume of work with high quality when he start working at the lawyer office. But suddenly he start refusing to do any task by simple answer to any request with the simple phrase “I could prefer not to”. What produce in Bartley this remarkable change in his attitude ? What is the true about Bartleby mental health? Trough the reading we could discover the development of the character of Bartleby, analyzing
This aspect of Bartleby is respectable, however he is very stubborn in his reluctance to give the narrator an adequate response. The narrator does nothing but look out for him, even when Bartleby openly defies him. The narrator seems like a truly selfless person and Bartleby's responses seem uncalled for. Bartleby stood behind his own ability to control his fate so adamantly that he even went to jail and died for it.
Outsourcing has been utilized by companies in sundry industries for many decades as a key business strategy (Ghodeswar and Vaidyanathan, 2008). Harmancioglu (2009) argue that several successful companies depend on outsourcing to continue being responsive in coping with market changes as well as to expand their operations globally. He also stated that outsourcing was primarily perceived and employed to reduce costs, however recently it has become a prevalent and essential tool to gain competitive advantage. There are various reasons that lead companies to outsource some of their functions, these include: cost cutting, entrance to new markets, and to concentrate on main activities (Ghodeswar and Vaidyanathan, 2008). Wright (2004) mentions a number of functions that a company can outsource, these include: human resources, customer care service, and information technology functions.
Storey, J. (2007). Human Resources Management : A critical text (3rd ed.). London: Thomson Learning.
First of all, general managers’ concerns about cost and quality drive outsourcing. The same issues such as getting existing services for a reduced price at acceptable quality standard came up repeatedly.
Foot M , Hook C (2008). Introducing Human Resource Management. 5th ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. 11-14,35-56,90-98.
The advantages of outsourcing are a cost savings, focus on core business, improved quality, and customer satisfaction. For cost saving, there can be significant cost savings when a business is outsourced. Employee compensation costs, office space expanses and other costs associated with providing a work space or manufact...
The last line of "Bartleby the Scrivener" by Herman Melville leaves the reader hanging by saying "Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!". The main character, Bartleby, was an introvert who behaved strangely and without a sense of reality. I think the last line marveled at Bartleby and his strange behaviors. The last line connects to the theme of choices and what dictates people's behavior and actions. The last paragraph of the story ponders about Bartleby's past job of working in a post office sorting out mail that was written for the dead. Diving deeper into this, the narrator thinks that Bartleby's past job could help explain his odd nature. He justifies his reasoning by assuming that the depressing task of burning the forgotten letters that were
Outsourcing is the process of subcontracting operations and support to an organization outside the company to replace performance of the task with an organization’s internal operations. (www.hjventure.com) Simply stated, outsourcing takes place when an organization transfers the ownership of a business process to a supplier. What makes this process so important is the fact that no matter what the product, there is a continuing effort to ship it outside of America to make it cheaper. This is the number one single reason for outsourcing, reducing or at least, control operating costs. It has been reported that on average, companies have seen approximately a 40% reduction in costs through outsourcing. (www.intozone.com) Because of this large reduction, it makes it almost impossible for similar companies to stay competitive unless they to begin to outsource.