Symbolism in Hermana Melville´´s Bartleby, the Scrivener

“Bartleby, the Scrivener” is one of The Piazza Tales written by Herman Melville which was one of his greatest works that express the author’s groundbreaking beliefs through a relationship between a narrator and his coworkers. The narrator is a successful lawyer who hires Bartleby. Shortly after, Bartleby manages to drive the narrator crazy by doing absolutely nothing. Doing this, Melville introduces several important prompts for the reader to ponder over. These prompts are introduced to us and justified through Melville’s symbolism. Melville’s great uses of symbolism strongly address three major contentions to his audience: his critique against capitalism, his philosophical stance on the value of life, and his reaction towards his audience’s feedback.

“Bartleby, the Scrivener” uses symbolism to criticize capitalism. “Bartleby the Scrivener” is “A Story of Wall Street” and uses a building next to wall street as the setting. The building is described as a very depressing building, which, “of week-days hums with industry and life, at nightfall echoes with sheer vacancy, and all through Sunday is forlorn.” Melville first attacks capitalism by symbolizing his characters as victims of the corporate world. First it starts off by showing the miserable, yet humorous lives of Turkey and Nippers. Turkey and Nippers both have to work the entire day, but neither of them can fully operate for the entire day of work. Turkey works well in the morning, where “his face was of fine florid hue”. However, from noon to the end of the day Turkey is exhausted after drinking where he “blazed like a grate full of Christmas coals; and continued blazing—but, as it were, with a gradual wane”. Nippers is the exact opposite. Nippers poor behavior was, “ma...

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...thout writing fiction novels. The narrator is a symbol for Melville’s readers, and poor Bartleby is a symbol for Melville. The narrator demands Bartleby to keep copying his work, but Bartleby has stated numerous times that he “would prefer not to”. Melville is against writing more fiction because he did not want to cheapen the means of his fiction. In the end, none of Melville’s works after “Moby Dick” became popular and he ended up dying in poverty and obscurity, very similarly to Bartleby.

The use of symbolism in “Bartleby, the Scrivener” displays Melville’s main arguments. Melville accomplishes his goal of criticizing capitalism, showing the worth of human life, and refusing to listen to his readers which could have made him a less renowned author. Bartleby was symbolized as a political hero, a figure of importance, and an orator for Melville; Therefore, a victor.