Theme in Melville's "Bartleby,

A detailed Summary of Theme in Melville's "Bartleby,


Theme in Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener":

"Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!" says narrator at the end of the story (Melville 140). What is humanity in today's society? Is that just another phrase that has no real meaning, or is it something that we used to have? Isolation from humanity, and alienation from ourselves inevitably leads to destruction of personality and finally to devastation of our physical being. Alienation and destruction is also in Herman Melville's short story "Bartleby the Scrivener". This story depicts the conflict in the workplace between the narrator who is the lawyer and young, skinny, common, passive man named Bartleby. The author's theme, that alienating qualities may inhibit humanity, and that those qualities eventually lead to destruction of humanity itself, is reflected through specific characters and their actions at work, and may be traced through the development of the story.

The alienation of the individual in modern, industrial society is clearly seen in the character of Bartleby. At first, Bartleby is the best worker. La


Also, Bartleby's alienation from society and himself is largely supported by the actions of the narrator, which detach Bartleby even further from the world and its values: "I placed his desk close up to a small side window...a window which originally had afforded a lateral view of certain grimy backyards, and bricks...Within three feet of the panes was a wall" (Melville 121). This describes the way that lawyer excludes Bartleby from the rest of the world, which reinforce the isolation in physical sense. The lawyer is trying to help him thinking that by doing this he will help himself. Instead of firing him for refusing to work, he even tries to find other employment for him. He also thinks about inviting him to live in his house as a guest. Through his actions, mainly his indecisiveness, the narrator shows his separation from the social environment. His disconnection from the "real world" and the distance from basic honest human emotions in the modern industrial world disables the narrator to facilitate Bartleby's transition from the worlds of shadows into the world of sincere humanity. At t

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Approximate Word count = 742
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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