Barleby the Scrivener
In his work Bartleby, the Scrivener, Herman Melville employs several themes. The most apparent are the themes of alienation, man’s desire to avoid conflict, man’s desire to resist change, and of the narrator’s response to Bartleby’s actions and reactions. The theme of alienation begins to show itself when the narrator describes the office arrangement that he made for Bartleby. Bartleby is placed in the corner of the office, his only view is of a wall outside of the window. “Still further to a satisfactory arrangement, I procured a high green folding screen, which might entirely isolate Barleby from my sight, though not remove him from my voice.” Not only is the narrator separating Bartleby from his own sight, he is also removing him from the other office workers, and from the other office workers. 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.” The other scriveners also felt alienated by the actions of the narrator. His lack of resolve when dealing with Bartleby anger
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 741
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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