Bartleby, the Scrivener
Bartleby, the Scrivener was a most interesting story. The characters were very interesting to the intuitive reader. The narrator is an interesting man who is difficult to completely understand. The narrator's thoughts seem unclear even to himself. The narrator seems to have a sincere wish to help Bartleby in whatever way he can. His sincerity, though, is questionable. Every time the narrator tries to assist Bartleby, he seems to do it only to gratify himself. After the narrator informs Bartleby that the office must be vacated, he says to himself, "As I walked home in a pensive mood, my vanity got the better of my pity." The narrator is glad to have gotten rid of Bartleby, but only it seems, because he gave Bartleby money. This quasi- sincerity does seem to take a turn, however, towards the end of the story. After all the trivial attempts to help Bartleby, the narrator seems to have an instant of true feeling for Bartleby. After moving, and being rid of Bartleby, someone comes to him on Bartleby's behalf. The narrator goes to the prison to check on Bartleby only because he cares and knows that nobody else does. He knows that if he does not check on Bartleby's well- being, no one will. This shows that he is truly beginning to care. This man, the narrator, is also a very weak willed man. He seems to put up with nearly everything. He tolerates the tempers of both Turkey and Nippers day after day. Both these men appear to be alcoholics, as for instance, when Turkey returns from lunch he is not able to write without blotting the paper. When the narrator suggests that the two scriveners work only half a day, they refuse. And so, the narrator allows the behavior to continue. Also, when Bartleby first starts work, the narrator says that he placed him behind a screen so that he, ' Might entirely isolate Bartleby from my sight, though not to remove him from my voice." This wall served no real purpose other than to set himself apart from the scriveners, that is, to make himself feel more important. Also, when the narrator asked Bartleby to do something, Bartleby said simply that he, "would prefer not to." The narrator allowed this behavior and offered no discipline. Bartleby did whatever he felt like doing. Again later, Bartleby quit working altogether.
The set up of this environment clearly gives a sense of entrapment as every direction Bartleby faces he is met with another wall and must maintain his focus on copying, on working. The lawyer however, shows no sign of this being a bad thing; he simply sees the sharing of the office as a convenience to be able to call Bartleby to run his errands whenever he calls and doesn’t even have to look at Bartleby, a separation of humanity or social contact. As the story progresses, Bartleby refuses requests like checking the copies or going to the post office and eventually begins refusing to work entirely but this is seen as simply Bartleby being odd and not as a resistance to work but rather there is a cause for his refusal to work, as stated by the narrator, his eyes were perhaps hurt and needed time to recover. As time goes on Bartleby still refuses to work and lives in the office and this bothers the narrator to the point of having him evicted from the premises by use of force, calling the authorities and having him thrown in prison.... ...
The movie Crash examines the interpersonal communications that exists between different groups’ of people. In this film, characters are highlighted by the contact that occurs when disparate people are thrown together in large urban settings. Crash displays extreme instances of racism and shows how the thought, feeling, and behavior of individuals are influenced by actual, imagined, or implied presence of other human beings. My analysis will focus on Social Cognition and how people process, and apply information about other people and social situations.
...er try to think of a way to ask her father. They decide to make him think that he has come up with the idea. Toula?s mother could have flat out said that Toula wanted to work at the travel agency, but she instead decides to save his ?face?. She basically decides to ask him in an off-record way. It could be said that the mother manipulates the father in a very clever way, which was probably a good way to handle the situation. If she would have just asked him bald on record, or with some redress, about Toula working at the agency it may have started an argument.
Herman Melville uses a first person point of view to show the narrator’s first hand fascination with his employee Bartleby, as well as Bartleby’s strange behavior and insubordination.
He starts to disconnect himself by refusing to do work given to him by his boss, this comes from his desire to be complacent, which we find out when he says “I like to be stationary,” when talking to the lawyer (127). Bartleby continues to change throughout the story, as he goes from being an employee who won’t do his work, to never leaving the office and essentially making it his home. According to Todd Giles, “Bartleby's silence establishes distance,” meaning that he becomes so out of place that people stop expecting of him (Giles, 2007). What this causes is the need for Bartleby to be removed from the Wall Street Office. The lawyer tries in many different ways to do so, and even offers him more money than he is owed if he will quit. Bartleby refuses and continues to stay in the building, doing nothing, detached from the world around him. Eventually the lawyer changes offices due to Bartleby and leaves him there for the next buyer. Bartleby is forced out by the new owner, and in time it is told the police he is a vagrant and he is thrown into jail. Bartleby’s story ends
...ployer, and then he will be rudely treated, and perhaps driven forth miserably to starve”(p.8) Bartleby doesn’t want to be saved; Bartleby desires not to conform to the etiquette that the Lawyers society places upon him. Bartleby wins in the end because he goes to his death holding on to his convictions. Bartleby controlled the relationship to the end of it and beyond.
“ As if long famishing for something to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my documents. There was no pause for digestion. He ran a day and nightline, copying by sunlight and by candlelight (Bartleby, 18).” The narrator states, “ I should have been quite delighted with his application,”, but because Bartleby was a silent individual it puzzled him (Bartleby, 18). When Bartleby is asked to review his work he replies, “ I would prefer not to”. This refusal by Bartleby is seen as a critique of labor and capitalism (Reed, 255). His refusal to do what is asked of him is seen as Bartleby’s rejection of this capitalistic society. A society that has oppressed him and in turn he feels the need to be able to take control of his own life (Reed,
Melville, Herman. “Bartleby, the Scrivener.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. Vol. B. New York: Norton, 2012. 1483-1509. Print.
An example that the dead letter office job plays a part in Bartleby’s character is Bartleby isn't the average office worker. He is the weird guy no one likes, doesn't do his work, and just spends hours sitting and staring. When asked to do something, he responds with "I would prefer not to". There isn't much of an argument being created with someone who doesn't give much to argue with. Yet, “Bartleby is improper, propertyless, without possession, while at the same time in full control of his own possession"(Giles). He tends keeps to himself instead of letting others know more about him. Nothing is known about Bartleby, except for what one can see and take in; such as his name, or that he never leaves the office. In Bartle...
In sociology symbolic interactionism explains the individual in a society and their interactions with others and through that it can explain social order and change. This theory was compiled from the teachings of George Herbert Mead in the early 20th century. Mead believed that the development of the individual was a social process. People are subjected to change based on their interactions with other people, objects or events and they assign meaning to things in order to decide how to act. This perspective depends on the symbolic meaning that people depend on in the process of social interaction. This paper will examine the movie “The Blind Side” through the symbolic interaction perspective.
Tearing my ACL may not appear to be a failure in most people’s eyes, but to me it was horrifying and a complete let down to myself, as well as others. I worked very hard in the off season and was prepared to be a varsity starter in the spring. The first game came upon us very quickly and I was ecstatic to be on the starting lineup. I had enormously high hopes and wanted to prove my worth to the team and well as the coaches. The game started out as a brutal battle against our greatest rival Walsh, of which many of the opposing players I once played with, but we all played our hearts out. It was towards the middle of the third quarter, and we were down sixteen to six. The game was essentially over at this point, and we had no real chance of coming back to a ten point deficit. I continued to play hard as I still had hope and wanted to prove a point to the Walsh players who once went to
Ever since the previous season I had my standards set high. I had placed fifth, which was all right for the time being, but I knew as time went on I needed to push myself and increase my level of wrestling. I decided that I would do whatever it took, through thick and thin. I traveled to small local tournaments in Colorado, and a couple out-of-state tournaments, I even traveled to Delaware. It didn't really matter how I did at these tournaments because it was just all practice until February. So, I lifted and wrestled just about every chance I got. It was all in preparation for one match, six minutes.
His efforts though are fruitless because he was not able to get to Bartleby and never truly understood him, even in prison as the man eventually dies of starvation. Although after his death the lawyer does learn of Bartleby’s previous and listless job at a ‘Dead Letter Office’ which made the lawyer sympathize for him and wonder if that job is what made Bartleby so distant. Bartleby was a loner who distanced himself from everyone, even in death, he was aloof and never interacted with anyone which is not considered normal human behavior because humans are supposed to be social. This story went a little deeper and gave the idea of humanity as a whole being apathetic towards each other, because only the lawyer showed any sort of humane concern for Bartleby while the others cared less. Bartleby himself displayed apathetic behavior as he showed little to no care for how his behavior affected others or even himself. Outside in the world, many people who are stressed out and constantly working tend to only focus on themselves and have little to no care for other people most of the time. It’s another negative view on humanity, but at the same time it’s not that wrong, as society made by humans also makes others so busy and stuck in tedious schedules that they gradually become more jaded and some even become distant and
...longer write. The narrator did not immediately take this as rebellion; however, he viewed this as a result of Bartleby sitting in the sunlight causing his vision to become impaired. This is another example of his desire to help Bartleby. Instead of letting him good because of his odd behaviors he allows him to stay and stare out the window.
Writers have taken the idea of human interaction and used it to their advantage. They let the confrontation of characters bring out their personality and use the human experience of company to pull out major life themes and ideas. This is represented in The Streetcar Named Desire, The Metamorphosis and “Everyday Use”. The constant interactions (or lack thereof) of fictional characters can lead real people to think that life always has to be built upon relationships so they can become who they should be. This is not true because it is who we want ourselves to become that guides our interactions with other