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BartlebyAnalysis 18 - 30 Mar 2012 - Main.ElizabethSullivan
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| | Bartleby—A Law Student's Analysis
This short piece addresses the reflection narrator sees of himself in Bartleby in Herman Melville's short story, "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street." | | | I think "Bartleby" is about the salvation of all of our souls, lawyer or not. I am probably (definitely) projecting (but that's the beauty of literature), but I think that Bartleby is depressed - and Bartleby is a part of the narrator that he tried to suppress/cut off from himself. I mean, if you knew a person that acted like Bartleby, you'd be very concerned, think he was depressed, and try to get him some emotional help. Many people go along with life, while a part of them is thinking "Does my life have any meaning as I am leading it?" and many people suppress/cut off their depression/anxiety whether with the help with psychiatric drugs or no. But I also think that part of us is where our humanity, and the ability to be happy and find meaning, lies. I think that is why the story ends with the line, "Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!" The way I see it, the narrator finally lost his humanity (or a bit of it) when Bartleby died. Like Skylar and Courtney have pointed out, I think Bartleby is that part of us that would be easier to be rid of, but need very much, in order to be whole.
-- AgnesPetrucione - 30 Mar 2012 | |
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> | I think this is a story about the impact of the walls/barriers people erect in their lives. Bartleby, for all his desire to disengage from the bleakness of the corporate world (albeit a different Wall Street than we know today), cannot do more than say no to others. In preferring not to comply with the narrator’s demands, Bartleby has not said anything about who he is, but only about who he will not be. He manages to do little more with the time he’s gained from saying no than stand and stare at the walls around him. The nihilism Bartleby embraces is important in that it draws attention to the existence of these walls, but is an incomplete response in that it cannot break them down. This might echo what Eben said in class a bit, but I think this reveals the fact that saying no to others does not equate to saying yes to oneself.
Whatever the limitations of merely saying no (and they clearly exist), Bartleby’s nihilism serves an important function in this story in that it provides the narrator’s first exposure to the possibility of rebelling against the safe world he’s created. As he opens himself to Bartleby, he begins to develop what seems like an addiction to/obsession with Bartleby’s mantra and “burns to be rebelled against again.” Though that obsession begins to pick at the foundation of the narrator’s walls, the narrator is unable to embrace Bartleby and cannot fully internalize what he stands for. Unwilling to topple the eminently safe, unambitious, snug life he has created for himself, the narrator directs his efforts at building those walls back up. He does so by constantly attempting to rationalize Bartleby’s behavior (as he does with everything/everyone else around him). This rationalization serves to buttress the narrator’s walls, but does not fully rid him of Bartleby’s influence. Though the narrator writes about Bartleby as if a closed chapter in his life, Bartleby’s nihilism continues to haunt the narrator. I’d like to think (perhaps because I hope there is still time for me to knock down some of my own walls) that his continued engagement with Bartleby’s peculiarity has left open the door for the narrator to pursue a life that is less safe.
Throughout writing this, I’ve been struck by the frequency with which I’ve felt the need to say things like “even though” and “despite this” in describing the narrator’s interaction with Bartleby. In thinking about my use of those words, I began to realize that my reaction to this class has been quite similar to the narrator’s reaction to Bartleby. Even though this class has repeatedly exposed me to the fact that I will be unhappy in a firm, I continue to tell myself that maybe this is an unhappiness I will have to be okay with. Despite Eben’s insistence that it is possible to good and simultaneously do well, I continue to tell myself that, in reality, I will have to pick one or the other. I’ve probably spent more time trying to rationalize my tendency to deflect this advice than I have trying to figure out how to have a career that matters. I think for a lot of us Eben is probably correct when he says that, despite being told how soul-crushing a firm job can be, we’re going to do it anyway. I think that likely has something to do with the fact that we may be unwilling to follow the advice of one person when many other forces are pushing us in the opposite direction. Perhaps Columbia has failed us in this regard by focusing on jobs that are “very pleasantly remunerative”, or our imaginations have in pretending that’s the only goal, or both. Perhaps I’ll win the lottery tonight and those forces pushing me towards a firm job will cease to exist...
-- ElizabethSullivan - 30 Mar 2012 |
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