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Death as a theme in a rose for emily
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Melville: bartleby, the scrivener reflection
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“Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville is a short story about a man who works at a law office on Wall Street. “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is about a young woman struggling with the loss of her father and significant other. Through the use of setting, characters, and tone the authors of both works were able to portray the themes of isolation and loneliness.
“Bartleby, the Scrivener” takes place in a tenanted law office by a set of unusual men. Their relationship with one other seems to be purely professional which leaves little room for interaction amongst them. It's prominent that the author doesn’t learn anything about any of the characters beyond what they're like in the office, not even our narrator. Any attempt to describe
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The setting is described as a community that places her on a pedestal. “Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” supports this. The climax of the story occurs when the tone turns more devastating. Unaccompanied after her father’s death, she is an element of pity for the close residents. Her father raised her as an overbearing guardian who would not let her socialize with the public. As one could imagine, losing the only person you had in your life could be rather disturbing. The reader can feel the distress and agony, comparable to “Bartleby, the Scrivener”. Soon after she falls for a contractor who worked outside her house. This then changes the attitude to be more optimistic. She admirers him because of his outgoing nature and good sense of humor. He develops an interest in Emily. Despite his qualities, the townspeople view him as a deprived scandalous person. He disappears in Emily’s house and decomposes in an attic bedroom after she kills him. The reader could be ultimately shocked, and to make matters worse, her father’s remains are there as well. The story states Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.” Emily’s secret,
Life is sad and tragic; some of which is made for us and some of which we make ourselves. Emily had a hard life. Everything that she loved left her. Her father probably impressed upon her that every man she met was no good for her. The townspeople even state “when her father died, it got about that the house was all that was left to her; and in a way, people were glad…being left alone…She had become humanized” (219). This sounds as if her father’s death was sort of liberation for Emily. In a way it was, she could begin to date and court men of her choice and liking. Her father couldn’t chase them off any more. But then again, did she have the know-how to do this, after all those years of her father’s past actions? It also sounds as if the townspeople thought Emily was above the law because of her high-class stature. Now since the passing of her father she may be like them, a middle class working person. Unfortunately, for Emily she became home bound.
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.
The most significant aspect touched upon in the both essays is isolation, but they differ in how each character deals with the issue. The isolation of the main character In Bartleby is revealed in his refusal to fulfill the routine work. Bartleby’s stated response to his employer’s request to do work was usually, “I prefer not to” (Melville, p302) Time and time again, Bartleby uttered those words without repercussion. His employer seemed unable to do anything. “But there was something about Bartleby that not only strangely disarmed me, but in a wonderful manner, touched and disconcerted me. I began to reason with him”. (Melville, p 303) Bartleby chose at every turn to seclude himself from society and life in general. Throughout the essay, we see first, Bartleby's unwavering preoccupation with his employment, followed by his decision ...
The lawyer hires Bartleby as his scrivener. He is awestruck because Bartleby is so quick and efficient. He asks Bartleby to help him examine papers and Bartleby replies,” I would prefer not to.”
In the short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” which was written by Herman Melville, the character named Bartleby is a very odd, yet interesting individual. In the story, Bartleby is introduced when he responds to a job opening at the narrator’s office. Although there is no background information given about him, it becomes very apparent that he will be the antagonist in this story. Unlike the usual image put on the antagonist, Bartleby causes conflict with a very quiet and calm temperament. This character’s attitude, along with the fact that he is a flat and static character, makes him a very unique antagonist, and this fact is shown through the way other characters approach and deal with his conflict.
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
Since he will not quit me, I must quit him. "Ah Bartleby, Ah Humanity." (Page 140, Herman Melville) This is the key to Bartleby, written by Herman Melville, for it indicates that Bartleby stands as a symbol for humanity. This in turn functions as a commentary on society and the working world, for Bartleby is a seemingly homeless, mentally disturbed scrivener who gives up on the prospect of living life. However, by doing so Bartleby is attempting to exercise his freewill, for he would "prefer not to" work. His relationship to the narrator is thus significant, for as he attempts to exercise his freewill he is breaking from the will of the narrator and the normal progression of life. However, this attempt to exercise his freewill and break loose from the confines of typical societal functions, isolates Bartleby from society, which in turn places him in a state of depression and soon there after, death. Ultimately, by having Bartleby "prefer not to," Melville is commenting on the role of humanity in the work force. If man attempts to break free of his role and exercise his own freewill then he is severing himself from humanity which in turn will lead to depression and perhaps death, for he will have nothing but a wall always obstructing him. From the beginning Bartleby is isolated within the confines of his work place. "I procured a high green folding screen, which might entirely isolate Bartleby from my sight, though not remove him from my voice."( pg 111) In this quotation the narrator put Arnold, Page 2 up a screen to separate his office from Bartleby’s, which isolates him from the other members of the staff which thus isolates him from humanity. However, this is not the end of the isolation for he is not only detached from those around him, but society as well. "I placed his desk close up to a small side window, a window that had originally afforded a view of certain grimy backyards, but which commanded at present, no view at all. Within three feet of the pains was a wall." (pg 110-111) This quotation demonstrates Bartleby’s total isolation from society, for even his window, usually a form of escape, traps Bartelby behind another wall, which thus reinforces absolute isolation. Ultimately, every aspect of Bartleby’s life further expounds upon the motif of solitude. Bar...
Bartleby is a man who is in charge of his own life by having a free will and living a life of preference. His infamous line "I prefer not to" appears in the story numerous times. His choice of preference leads to the downfall of his life. Bartleby made several crucial mistakes that lead to his downfall. His first mistake was when the attorney asked him to make copies and run errands for him and Bartleby preferred not to do so. "At this early stage of his attempt to act by his preferences, Bartleby has done nothing more serious than break the ground rules of the attorney's office by avoiding duties the attorney is accustomed to having his scriveners perform" (Patrick 45). An employee is also supposed to do tasks in the job description and when these tasks are not accomplished or done correctly, not once but several times, it usually leads to termination. Bartleby is a rare case because he does not get fired. This in turn results in his second mistake. Since he was able to get away with not doing anything, Bartleby opted to take the next step and quit his job or in his own words, "give up copying" (Melville 2345). Quitting caused him to have more troubles than he had before. Bartleby then...
When her father passed away, it was a devastating loss for Miss Emily. The lines from the story 'She told them her father was not dead. She did that for three days,' (Charter 171) conveys the message that she tried to hold on to him, even after his death. Even though, this was a sad moment for Emily, but she was liberated from the control of her father. Instead of going on with her life, her life halted after death of her father. Miss Emily found love in a guy named Homer Barron, who came as a contractor for paving the sidewalks in town. Miss Emily was seen in buggy on Sunday afternoons with Homer Barron. The whole town thought they would get married. One could know this by the sentences in the story ?She will marry him,? ?She will persuade him yet,? (Charter 173).
Bartleby- The Scrivener In Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener”, the author uses several themes to convey his ideas. The three most important themes are alienation, man’s desire to have a free conscience, and man’s desire to avoid conflict. Melville uses the actions of an eccentric scrivener named Bartleby, and the responses of his cohorts, to show these underlying themes to the reader. The first theme, alienation, is displayed best by Bartleby’s actions. He has a divider put up so that the other scriveners cannot see him, while all of them have desks out in the open so they are full view of each other, as well as the narrator. This caused discourse with all of the others in the office. This is proven when Turkey exclaims, “ I think I’ll just step behind his screen and black his eyes for him.”(p.2411) The other scriveners also felt alienated by the actions of the narrator. His lack of resolve when dealing with Bartleby angered them because they knew that if they would have taken the same actions, they would have been dismissed much more rapidly. The narrator admits to this when he said, “ With any other man I should have flown outright into a dreadful passion, scorned all further words, and thrust him ignominiously from my presence.” (2409) The next theme is man’s desire to avoid conflict. The narrator avoids conflict on several occasions. The first time Bartleby refused to proofread a paper, the narrator simply had someone else do it instead of confronting him and re...
Herman Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener, A Tale of Wall Street Summary tells the story of a head lawyer’s scriveners at a lawyer firm. The story is told through the eyes of an unnamed narrator. It is told in past tense and focuses on an especially odd employee he once had. He starts the tell, however, introducing his three other employees, Ginger-nut, Turkey, and Nippers. Who all have varying quirks and problems. The Narrator takes pride in his ability to manage them and in his supposed understanding of how they work. When he hires Bartleby he gets more than he expected. At first, Bartleby does very nice work but he eventually stops altogether saying “I would prefer not to”. The Narrator tries hard to understand Bartleby and help him, but
Perhaps it was fated that Bartleby must die in the manner he did. After all, the narrator consulted the eminent pre-destination theologians Priestley and Edwards, and admits to believing that Bartleby’s presence “had been all predestinated from eternity” and that “it was not for a mere mortal like [the narrator] to fathom” (167). Accepting the idea that Bartleby is a microcosm of the macrocosm, this would imply that change is inevitable.
William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily tells a story of a young woman who is violated by her father’s strict mentality. After being the only man in her life Emily’s father dies and she finds it hard to let go. Like her father Emily possesses a stubborn outlook towards life, and she refused to change. While having this attitude about life Emily practically secluded herself from society for the remainder of her life. She was alone for the very first time and her reaction to this situation was solitude.
After all the tragic events in her life, Emily became extremely introverted. After killing Homer, Emily locked herself in and blocked everyone else out. It was mentioned, “…that was the last time we saw of Homer Barron. And of Miss Emily for some time” (628). In fact, no one in town really got to know Miss Emily personally as she always kept her doors closed, which reflects on how she kept herself closed for all those years. Many of the town’s women came to her funeral with curiosity about how she lived, as no one had ever known her well enough to know. This was revealed at the beginning of the story when the narrator mentioned, “the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant… had seen in the last ten years”(623). Everyone in town knew of her but did not know her because she kept to herself for all those years.
The lawyer, also the narrator, hires Bartleby to work as a scrivener at his business that involves bonds, mortgages and titles. The lawyer thinks he has all of his scriveners behaviors “on lock”. Although Bartleby started as a hard working employee, he eventually and in a calm manner refuses to do any requested work by the lawyer by simply saying, “I would prefer not to”. The lawyer doesn’t fire Bartleby after he declines to work, instead he gives Bartleby another chance. The lawyer preference to remain calm shows that he chooses to stray from confrontation. Bartleby continuous refusal to work leads to him being fired, but he refuses to leave. The lawyer’s philosophy and careful balancing of his employees is compromised by Bartleby actions. The lawyer moves his entire practice to another building to only find Bartleby there. Bartleby is arrested and continues in his bizarre daze. The lawyer visits Bartleby to convince him to eat and get through to him, but it doesn’t work and Bartleby dies. The lawyer sensitivity and empathy towards Bartleby raises questions to the lawyers sincerity. Ultimately, my goal is to demonstrate what was the lawyer’s intent to help Bartleby?