Social Deviance in Bartleby the Scrivener
Bartleby the Scrivener is a story that takes place on Wall
Street, peopled by workers of a common mold. Being a non-conformatist of
the most extreme type, Bartleby is eventually suffers a death of
attrition. The message that Melville intends for the reader is how
society has little tolerance for social deviance.
I mentioned a common mold, the engine which impelled the
"society" of Wall Street to keep on existing. This common mold consists
of working a full day, going home and relax, possibly drinking some beer
or whatnot.
This is where the theme of ostracization of social deviance comes
into play, expressed in the metaphor of individual versus society. Those
who do not fit into the common mold are pressured to change or are
removed forcibly. Bartleby is an example of a character that doesnÍt fit
anywhere even near the mold...