great works in literature II 2850 kta 2:55-4:35— Shades of Truth . . .

Group Members: Radia, Elizaveta, and Mel

Comment #1 – Radia

    The narrator in “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” is illustrated as an anti-hero character. He has his own version of true reality, but he does nothing to address it. He’s accepted the same day to day routine; almost like clockwork. The narrator realizes how the business world has affected his personality. He knows the lifestyle is isolated and lonesome. Instead of seeking out something out of his comfort zone, he sticks to this same routine. The narrator describes himself as, “…I am one of those unambitious lawyers who never addresses a jury… all who know me, consider me an eminently safe man.” He has this job that seeks for justice, but he remains passive and rather do the bare minimum. The narrator is not a risk taker and prefers a detached environment. When Bartleby refuses to work as a copyist, the narrator does nothing to force him to get back to work or remove him from the office. Instead of standing up, the narrator runs away from this problem. He decides to move his practice to another building. The narrator convinces himself that he’s just saving himself from the trouble. Ultimately, his fear of taking risks and passive personality stops him from truly living.

Coment #2 – Mel

Bartleby is a satanic hero; a man who acts in socially inappropriate ways throughout the story “Bartleby, the Scrivener”. He acts in such socially inappropriate ways that it is noted, “Mr. B—— has turned him out of his room, and he now persists in haunting the building generally, sitting upon the banisters of the stairs by day, and sleeping in the entry by night.” Perhaps it is certain that Bartleby sees that there is no meaning to life, or he is trying to execute absolute freedom in humanity. Thus, he is acting upon it in ways that disturbs others, which will allow others to notice what he is doing and wonder why he is doing it. It is a method very similar to civil disobedience that makes people aware of their current surroundings and question their own philosophy and morals. He succeeded in this method by influencing the narrator of the story, who started to try to connect with Bartleby throughout the story. Bartleby, as a hero who saw some type of truth, acted upon it. His efforts didn’t make a difference to the world within the story, though, but it did change the narrator’s inner world. 

The way in which Bartleby acts or doesn’t act makes him a satanic hero.What makes someone a satanic hero is that they are out of the picture, they see everything that is going on, thus he can see the “truth” when his other co-workers can’t. This is not the only thing that makes a satanic hero. While knowing the truth and not acting upon it or acting upon in an unsuitable way in that situation. At first, when he started working he was very diligent and hardworking, but as time passed, he began to settle down. The problem is that he kept settling down. Bartleby who was once on the top of the employee has fallen. It can first be seen when he said this “I would prefer not to.” (302). After that his job began to spiral downhill, he had no drive to work, for example staring at a brick wall. The ways of the satanic hero cause everyone around him to come down, lowering the morale. His co-workers wanted to help him but they would eventually stop trying to help him and hoped that he will help himself. All this added together make the character Bartleby the satanic hero.

-Denny Huang

The character Bartleby is not a hero in any way. He is an extremely lazy character who does not care for others or care for himself. He has care free attitude towards all things. To define someone as a hero requires heroic actions from that character, and Bartleby presents none. He is a depressed character who would stare at a brick wall all day if he could. To argue that Bartleby is a hero, is not only wrong, but is completely absurd. Bartleby lives and dies a pointless life on his own. He only had one person who ever cared for him, the narrator.
-William Dayan

Bartleby can be considered a Satanic/Byronic hero in the book. A Byronic hero is someone who sees the truth, when others cannot, and he acts on it, but in a socially inappropriate way. This is a perfect definition of Bartleby’s character as we can see in the underlying meaning of his actions throughout the story. Bartleby’s character is one of mystery, as at first he seems like a diligent worker, however as time goes on he does less and less work and seems to be getting more and more depressed. Whenever he is asked to work, or is asked a question he uses the classic line of “I would prefer not to.” Through his politeness of decline, we can see that Bartleby may have a sense of what may be right and wrong. Perhaps he was declining not out of laziness, but to go against something he did not deem right. It is inferable that Bartleby’s actions of keeping to himself and staying in the office are clear signs of depression, which could be a result of him realizing the downsides of living his life and working on wall street. His declining words could be a way he acts on attempting to break free from the depressions of his life, however because it can be considered socially inappropriate to constantly decline your boss and not do anything else, Bartleby never does get anywhere in his life. Yet, Bartleby can be considered the Satanic/Byronic hero of the novel.
-Sabera Qazi

Bartleby, the scrivener, the “deranged”, can be considered to be a anti-hero. An anti-hero is someone who sees the truth when others don’t, but does nothing. In the case of Bartleby the truth can be considered of something to do with his, and others, meaning in life. When he first starts working for the narrator he is said to have been an exemplary worker, with the only problem being he would “prefer” not to do anything else, no matter how big or little it may be. Eventually however he stops working altogether, and when asked why he says “Do you not see the reason for yourself,’ He indifferently replied. I looked steadfastly at him, and perceived that his eyes looked dull and glazed”(311). Bartleby acknowledges that there is some sort of reasoning for his refusal to do anything else, but he prefers not to say what reasoning it is, simply that it should be obvious to everyone what it is. In this instance he has taken a step towards being an anti-hero, he has seen the truth when others don’t. At the same time it appears that he is being physically affected by discovering this truth. His dull and glazed eyes, perhaps his realization of this truth has paralyzed Bartleby, this would be his next step into becoming an anti-hero. When the narrator offers various other job positions to Bartleby, Bartleby says that he would “prefer not to make any change.” At this point he has fully become an anti-hero, he knows the truth but does nothing about it. He does not try to change his life, nor does he try to make others try to see his way, he prefers not to do anything about it, this static stance ultimately leads to his demise.
-Brian Baigorria

Narrator – No Hero At All

Aside from the point of view of trying to decide whether Bartleby is a hero who attempts to disobey the orders of society which he believes to be ineffective and not worth following, Bartleby can also be viewed as a character who is being troubled by a state of mental illness and confusion. In the beginning of the story, although Bartleby was confused by the fast paced and unfruitful life he is living, he still attempts to live his life by trying to find a job so he will be able to support himself. He finds himself working at the narrator’s law office and initially the narrator described him as a very good employee; nevertheless, Bartleby stopped following directions merely three days later. It is very likely that he was influenced by the atmosphere of the office and the narrator’s enabling characteristic. The narrator is well aware that his two scriveners Turkey and Nippers are not one hundred percent “useful” throughout the day, especially Turkey who is awake before noon and becomes unproductive for the remainder of the day after he gets drunk from liquors at lunch. Yet, the narrator keeps them both and attempts to only look at their minor good points such as how Turkey does good work when he is awake and how Nippers always dresses like a gentleman. His enabling trait extends to Bartleby later on after he hires him. When Bartleby stopped doing his work and angered the narrator, his other workers have all informed him that he has every right to be angry and fire Bartleby but he decides to keep Bartleby and give him more privileges as time goes on, “he was permanently exempt from examining the work done by him… Bartleby was never on any account to be dispatched on the most trivial errand of any sort… it was generally understood that he would prefer not to.” He does this out of curiosity and wants to find out the reason for Bartleby’s nonchalance towards his surroundings, yet he later runs from Bartleby when he feels a strong sense of attachment from Bartleby. The narrator fails to realize that although Bartleby seemed like he wasn’t doing anything, there was this one thing he has been doing since the very beginning – sticking himself to the narrator and the office. It’s questionable why he does this but it could be that the wandering Bartleby has found a sense of belonging and attachment in the world yet the narrator ran from him. The ending, Bartleby’s suicide, could be the result of disappointment in the narrator’s noncommittal and half hearted kindness while the narrator’s voice of humanity could be his realization to this.

-Chi Z.

Bartleby – Satanic/Byronic Hero

A satanic hero being someone who sees the truth when others can’t and acts upon it in a socially inappropriate way. Throughout the story Bartleby is acting the way he is because he knows something. Whether it be right or wrong, this something can be portrayed as ‘the truth’ Bartleby sees.
He is seen as a character who does his job to the fullest in the start, “at first Bartleby did an extraordinary quantity of writing.” As the story progresses, he slowly starts to do less and less work by always saying, “I prefer not to.” Until one day he stops completely and just stands by his window looking out at the brick wall. It can be interpreted here, that Bartleby sees the truth and actually does try to tell the narrator; ““No more.” “And what is the reason?” “Do you not see the reason for yourself,” he indifferently replied.” Maybe, since Bartleby was looking out his window when he decided to stop working, was how he saw the truth; that the truth was was being seen in the brick wall. Since afterwards all we see Bartleby do is look out his window at the same brick wall. He tries to show this to the narrator only once, but Bartleby tries to tell the truth in a way that confuses the narrator and then Bartleby doesn’t even try to explain it after that. All of Bartleby’s actions were ways he acted upon the truth, but his ways were quite inappropriate. In the sense his actions peeved Nippers, Turkey and just frightened the narrator to the point of leaving his own office.
That’s why I sort of see Bartleby as a satanic/Byronic hero.
– Myra Khan

Bartleby is the Satanic Hero. He does see the truth, that there is no end to this forever spinning circle of nothingness at his place of work. It feels very pointless and has no pride in his work. He acts by slowly rejecting his tasks. The lawyer describes Bartleby’s actions when he first started taking action by, “His face was leanly composed; his gray eyes dimly clam. Not a wrinkle of agitation rippled him” (Melville, 302). Even though Bartleby is taking action and standing up for himself, he gives his coworkers the wrong idea. His actions lead them to believe that he is unstable and that he needs mental help. I feel as though he is very innocent and is not trying to cause many arguments or make a sense. He is trying to stand up for himself. Have meaning to his life, not just being in the side lines and working pointless jobs. The lawyer feels compassion towards Bartleby and states, “Poor fellow, poor fellow! thought I, he don’t mean any thing; and besides, he has seen hard times, and ought to be indulged” (Melville, 314). Everyone basically gave up on him and let him be, therefore his protest was more for him standing up for himself than for others. He is not the ideal leader and fails to assert what he wants, socially correctable to society. His actions sticked everyone as strange and unnecessary than liberating or inspiriting.

-Kelly Kay

Throughout Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener”, Bartleby’s actions depict that he is an Anti-hero. An Anti hero is one who sees the truth, when others cant, however, does not act upon it. In many occasions Bartleby had made the choice to not take actions of responsibilities and commands; usually stating that he does not prefer to take such action or comply to a command. “Upon asking him why he did not write, he said that he had decided upon doing no more writing” (Melville 311).  When asked why he had cease to wright, Bartleby replied saying “Do you not see the reason for yourself” (311). This part of the story depicts Bartleby’s beginning of “doing nothing”.  As shown by Bartleby ‘s reply, he believes there is a rational reason for which ceasing to  act as on responsibility is justified. Although,  Bartleby is the only one aware of the “the truth”, he does nothing communicate it to society, or even his boss. Bartleby, is someone who did not take initiative to act upon the truth he is aware of, and instead only spoke when he was spoken to; because of this Bartleby is an Anti-hero.

“Floating Worlds”

As many of you note, sustaining a red light district often has both positive and negative aspects. As some of you comment, legalizing prostitution might well eliminate several negative elements, although for many people, there is still an ethical issue to deal with. However, as others note, prostitution is the “oldest profession,” and will likely thrive, legal or not.

Question: should we embrace it, accept it, or eliminate (as best one can)?

 Benefits: Revenue for the community (especially when legalized) from people working directly in the field, but increasingly, and more recently, from tourism; increase of business in the area (although not always savory); historical importance: whether arising seemingly on their own, near shipyards, or during a war, many of these districts are really old, and preserve an account of lifestyle throughout different eras; a source of income for people(mostly women) who have no other means of supporting themselves and their families.

Liabilities: Corrupt police and officials who are bribed to look the other way; abuse of prostitutes (including child abuse); sex trafficking; spread of disease (although as many observe, legalization and regularization would greatly decrease this); demoralization in the surrounding community; increasing crime (drugs, theft, even violent acts); increase of unsavory business enterprises in the area.

Borys:

Located on the intersection of Saint Laurent Boulevard and Saint Catherine St, is the unofficial Red-Light District of Montreal, Canada. Although throughout time the recognized borders of this region have shifted, its popularity hasn’t wavered. Historically know for illegal businesses such as gambling, brothels, prostitution, and smuggling of illegal goods. This was and still is the go to place for Canadians who want to get away from all the restrictions of society and let loose for a night, enjoying the vilified pleasures of life. It actually started of with good intentions, initially to protect young girls from the lurking lusty sailors that would come through the ports. In addition to that, it also became a hotspot of gangsters and bootleggers during the United States prohibition as they needed a convenient place to smuggle alcohol from. It estimated that today, the Red-Light districts activities generate an estimated $350 million in revenue with over six thousand men and women currently employed there. It’s increasing popularity has lead to many activists to call for reform and the legalization of prostitution, in attempts to protect and soften the environment for the female workers. (“http://www.montrealnitelifetours.com/sectors/article/montreal-red-light/Overview/”)

Emily:

As Borys pointed pointed out, during the time of United States Prohibition in the early twentieth century, tourism outside of the country surged. Individuals looking for a night of good fun could no longer do so as easily or freely on American streets, and so up and out they went. Montreal, Canada quickly became a hub for drugs, sex, and alcohol with their many strip clubs, strip bars, and peep shows “on every corner.” Canada is already known for having a more relaxed vibe, with a younger drinking age of 18 and looser related policies so the area was fitting. “St. Laurent is Montreal’s street of tolerance par excellence. You could allow things there that you couldn’t allow elsewhere else… The police didn’t go there. The Church didn’t go there. It escaped the normal rules of morality….There were no rules on St. Laurent.” – Jean-Marc Larrue, author of Les Nuits de la “Main” (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/curbing-the-sin-in-montreals-red-light-district/article682851/). It’s not just the “sexwork” but also the spirit that people want to keep. A new culture has spread from the explosion of the industry and to demolish that would kill any vibes that once flourished among the blocks of the Red-Light District of Montreal, the “Sin City of the North.”

Zuzanna:

As Emily and Borys mentioned, Montreal has always been known as the most popular place in Canada for its many brothels. However, the legalization of such establishments has been debated over the years. In 2014, the mayor promised to “crack down” on erotic massage parlours which include many other sexual services, and tackle the issue of hiring underage girls, forcing women to do things they do not want to do, and keeping organized crime out of it. Many protested, preferring to see prostitution in the hundreds of establishments operating in Montreal, rather than on the streets. Therefore, Mayor Denis Coderre’s plan of cleaning out the city’s brothels was delayed by Canada’s Supreme Court, which forced the government to re-draft Canada’s prostitution laws. Since prostitution is still illegal but unregulated, the drug scene has gained power and may cause a need or push for more regulation in the coming years. “Montreal is one of the hot spots in the country when it comes to drug smuggling, and it accounted for two-thirds of the more than $5.5 billion worth of drugs seized by the Canada Border Services Agency over the past six years, according to CBC News analysis of CBSA data.” (http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/03/27/montreal-drugs-border-seizures_n_2966533.html)  If prostitution was regulated, however, it would prevent the exploitation of minors, and protect its workers by guaranteeing them certain rights.

Theme: Red Light District (Kamathipura)
Group Members: Radia, Elizaveta, and Mel
   
Comment #1 – Radia

    Kamathipura is a red-light district in Mumbai, India. It’s hot a spot for trafficking and brothels. Although the law prohibits this behavior, the district and the police are able to coexist peacefully. They get away with it because either the police are bribed with money or they are using the brothel’s services. The district traffics women and young girls. In a cynical point of view, the trafficking industries in India bring in lots of revenue, which is why it’s tough to eliminate the brothels. However, the victim must pay the price of rape and abuse. A lot of these young women have to stay here until they pay off their debts to the owners. Yet, it’s very tough to leave the district because of the lack of opportunities. These women are brainwashed and manipulated, until they no longer realize their worth. These money-hungry industries break these girls. Unfortunately, this is the common fate for a majority of the girls who live in red-light districts in India.

Coment #2 – Elizaveta

Prostitution is one of the oldest profession in our world. Thus it would never go away. People are going to do it whatever it is banned or not. However, if prostitution is legalized,  revenues boost GDP and regulations protect customers and workers. AIDS rate will be lowered. Human trafficking, which remains a big problem in Kamathipura, will be almost diminished. Employees, who do not have a job choice, and who need to work to survive, will have workers’ rights and protection from violence and diseases. A lot of developed countries, such as Germany and Netherlands, legalized prostitution, and it did not destroy the morality of a community but brought a lot of advantages. Minor girls are never involved in activities of those industries. On the contrary, India is suffering from it. As Radia mentioned, a lot of underage girls are tortured, beaten and forced to participate in those activities. Bribery is another serious issue, and by legalizing prostitution, it will become irrelevant, at least in the sex trades.

Comment #3 – Mel

    As Elizaveta stated, prostitution will never go away due to the demand that exists within human culture. However, within Kamathipura, the percentage of sex workers have decreased within the recent years. The people who live there who are not sex workers and do not engage in the adult industry in the district has exceeded the amount of sex workers that reside in the district. The label that Kamathipura has due to its previous dominant sex culture has affected these residents negatively. Residents find it shameful to tell others that they live in the district, or find that it might have a negative impact on their reputation. Perhaps, the sex culture has dominated Kamathipura for a long time and is important to the history of the region, but it is causing a liability towards the current society. It is a positive news that this culture is starting to die out for the sake of both the non-sex workers and sex workers. The women and children that are in the adult industry will start to realize their worth, as Radia mentioned, and the local reputation can slowly be restored.  

De Wallen is the largest Red Light District in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In Amsterdam, prostitution is legal and and due to government regulations, this Red light district is cleaner and safer than most Red Light Districts. The prostitutes present themselves by standing by floor to ceiling windows and try to persuade you to come in if you walk by them. The prostitutes working there range in age from 18-50 and most charge around $50 an hour. De Wallen happens to be one of the oldest areas in all of Amsterdam and has existed since the 14th century. The name “Wallen” refers to the dam walls in the old center of Amsterdam. De Wallen is one of the oldest Red Light Districts in the world and is a major tourist attraction in Amsterdam.

-William Dayan

Amsterdam’s red light district began in the 14th century. By the end of the 17th century high class brothels were flourishing. However, by 1911 the Netherlands banned brothels but prostitution continued, using businesses like massage parlors as a cover for their activities. In 1935, it was estimated that there were around 150 different parlors that were in disguise. Some stores were labeled for massage, pedicure, manicure, and beauty treatment services. This made it clear to authorities that laws wouldn’t stop prostitution from occurring. Local authorities began to let the act of prostitution slide as long as it wasn’t being exhibited upfront to the world. This is how the “window trade” began where girls would seek out customers discreetly from behind curtained windows. By the 1960’s, the authorities in Amsterdam began to tolerate red-light district prostitution, and the sex trade in the area became a major tourist attraction.

-Sabera Qazi
Prostitution, live sex shows, , soft drugs, flavored condoms and how-to books; everything you’ll find in the modern day red light district known as De Wallen. Although this may sound like an illegal, shady, underground world to many in New York, this is actually a legal, above ground, open place in Amsterdam. The prostitutes here are legal and their profession is considered just that, a profession. They pay taxes just like everyone else and now thanks to the government legitimizing their profession, they have access to mortgages from banks, have access to medical care, and can have better working conditions. Even surrounded by sex, drugs, and neon lights, Amsterdam’s red light district remains one of the safest places to be. There are police constantly patrolling the streets and even bodyguards that the women hire themselves all over the area. Such a way of living is a drastic difference to modern day New York where such things are illegal, and even after reading about such places I find it hard to believe it exists.

-Brian Baigorria