- Explain the significance of the text’s subtitle, “a Story of Wall Street”.
- Why do you think Bartleby refuses to perform his copying duties?
- Whom do you sympathize with more in this narrative, Bartleby or the Narrator? Why?
- How does power work in this story? Who seems to have power? Why?
- The text ends mysteriously, “Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!” What do you think this means?
Herman Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener”
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Whom do you sympathize with more in this narrative, Bartleby or the Narrator? Why?
I sympathize with the Narrator more than I do Bartleby. The Narrator seems like a genuinely kind man that gives a lot of grace and tolerance to his employees. It is not in the Narrators character to kick Bartleby out on the street and a part of me feels like Bartleby knows this at a certain point. I sympathize with the Narrator because it cannot be easy to deal with someone like Bartleby who just sits there and will not move, nor will Bartleby accept any of the help that the Narrator offers. As frustrated as the Narrator gets, he never abandons Bartleby as he sees good in him.
Whom do you sympathize with more in this narrative, Bartleby or the Narrator? Why?
In this narrative I sympathize more with Bartleby because I think he represents that small part of our society that is an “outsider” to our society’s norms. He is isolated, lonely, homeless, and unhappy. He doesn’t seem to have any goals for himself and he keeps isolating himself from the society where he lives. Since he doesn’t quite fit into the demands of society he might be a person that might need some mental help, or maybe a conversation where he feels more included. I don’t think it is Bartleby’s fault for being an employee like himself. Instead, I think it is the lawyers fault for the lack of empathy he shows on Bartleby. In my understanding the narrator wasn’t very concerned about Bartleby’s situation as to why he suddenly refused tasks , but he is more concerned about his workplace. Here, I see the narrator as a hypocrite, who tried to pay and keep Bartleby in the office but only does that because of his christian beliefs and not because he really feels like it. Also, if the lawyer wanted another better employee it was on his hands to hire Bartleby or not. So, I think Bartleby is the “victim” of society in this case and I cannot sympathize with the narrator since in the later stages of the story he seems to contradict this image of a compassionate and understanding employer.
Hi Gilda. I completely agree with you in that Bartleby is very isolated from society. However, I can’t say that it is the narrator’s fault that he couldn’t help Bartleby out of his situation. He did try to communicate with him and even invited him to his home until they can come up with a good solution. But Bartleby kept refusing and wouldn’t communicate in any way. When a person is that resistant, there really isn’t much you can do, especially if you barely know them or their situation. Although I also sympathize with Bartleby, I still don’t understand what he was trying to achieve through his actions. Maybe as you said, he really needed mental help. However, he simply did not try to receive any help whatsoever. It was more like he had already given up on everything. But if that’s also the case, why was he so diligent in copying when he started the job? There’s so much we don’t know about Bartleby and the more I try to understand, the more questions I have.
How does power work in this story? Who seems to have power? Why?
I think power plays a very important role in this story, not as much for own interpretation, but more for the understanding of everything. Looking at the narrator, he has always been in charge, taking every path of least resistance because 1, thats what works for him, and two, he has never really been formally challenged. This has him on top of the power dynamic. With this being said, however, once Bartleby starts working for him, the power dynamic shifts. Foe the first time he is challenged, because of Bartleby’s denial to the narrator’s requests. From this point on, even though the narrator is still the boss, I feel like Bartleby actually has the power over him. He forces the narrator out of his “easy way of living”. Causing him to stress and focus on not only his own life, and business , but Bartleby himself. The narrator throughout the story gets astonished at times by his own thoughts about how to deal with Bartleby, showing in an indirect way Bartleby has the power.
Why do you think Bartleby refuses to perform his copying duties?
From what I can interpret I can think of two possible reasons why Bartleby refused to perform his copying duties. My first thought was that maybe Bartleby refuses to perform because he doesn’t like change and can’t handle change well so when he was hired as a scrivener for the lawyer’s company and saw how much of a change it was he just shut himself down. My second thought was something a little deeper. I thought maybe Bartleby refused to do his work because he saw how repetitive the job was and its workload and it overwhelmed him and he lost his spirit to work.
Whom do you sympathize with more in this narrative, Bartleby or the Narrator? Why?
I sympathize with the Narrator more. It is a classic example of being more inclined to side with the one you’re familiar with. I think Bartleby needed help, but we as the audience don’t even know why. We’re left speculating based on what the Narrator thinks. It’s a bit frustrating actually, after everything that happened and every strange occurrence. The Narrator isn’t perfect by any means, but he strikes me as a man who tries his best to see the good in people, even if it’s done for his own self appreciation at times.
Why do you think Bartleby refuses to perform his copying duties?
Initially, I thought that Bartleby refused to perform his copying because he was trying to send a message to the Narrator. I thought it was his way of emasculating him. We see that the Narrator softens up to Bartleby and in a way the roles are reversed. Bartleby is the one with the power instead of the lawyer. After reading the entire story my viewpoint did change. It is said that Bartleby previously worked in the Dead Letters Office and was let go because of a change of administration. This made me think that maybe he refused to perform his duties in his new job because his old job fired him. Imagine working hard somewhere, then getting fired just like that. I also came up with the idea that the Dead Letters Office took a toll on Bartleby mentally because of its nature.
Explain the significance of the text’s subtitle, “A Story of Wall Street”.
In my opinion, the text’s subtitle, “A Story of Wall Street,” wants to give us an initial input of what the following story will be about. Wall Street as we all know is the world of money, investments, and big banks but not only that, because behind that financial world, there are people people who have feelings like any human. We know very little about Bartleby’s life throughout the story but we can understand that Bartleby’s character is a gloomy, lifeless character who stares at the walls always saying his phrase, “I’d prefer not”. On the other hand, the first part of the title highlights, in my opinion, that Bartleby’s name is accompanied first of all by his professional title, to indicate that he was not just any scribe but was “the Scrivener”, that is, he had something special itself.
How does power work in this story? Who seems to have power? Why?
I think Bartleby was the one to have more power because he was the one deciding his fate and choices. Bartleby was very dissatisfied from his life in society and he realized that emptiness and resistance was the only way out. Even though he was likely depressed, Bartleby still chose to isolate himself and eventually got what he wanted. It almost feels like his death was a fulfillment to a life that was always depressing. Even though it seems like Bartleby was the one powerless compared to the workers, I think the choice had was power in itself (almost like a protest of some sort).