Abstract
“Bartleby the Scrivener” is a marvelous short story of the American nineteen century that has been discussed greatly from various disciplinary perspectives over the last century. Bartleby has been seen as a revolutionary figure who intentionally disrupts the capitalist system and has been traced to numerous real people, including Thoreau, Emerson, and even Melville himself. Critics have attached numerous equivalences to the protagonist; therefore, it is important to study the historical, political, and cultural context to choose the proper one. “Bartleby the Scrivener” demonstrated not only allusion to specific people and conflicts in New York but also showed class relations and attitudes to property. The author created a historical framework within which the readers are able to identify and criticize the hypocrisy and inadequacy of the narrator who represents a typical capitalist of his time. In general, the short story gains its complexity and originality when reading and interpreting it in the historical, cultural, and political context of New York social life in the 1850s.
Introduction
Section I
The significance of the setting and time of the story
the 1850s is the time of the development of capitalism
Wall Street is the financial and business center of the US
Money- and profit-driven society
“Within the story, the new religion posits money as its only value. Thus, Bartleby’s alienation and dehumanization result from the prison of his socio-economic system” (Bendixen and Nagel 43).
Section II
Main Ideas & Supporting QuotesThe categories of successful people of the mid nineteen century
Reference to John Jacob Astor
the narrator’s admiration of Astor
Melville’s awareness of the political situation in New York in the 1850s.
The Astor Place Riots
Section III
The narrator is a typical capitalist of his time
the narrator pursues capitalistic values and lacks real philanthropy
“the scrivener refuses the narrator’s charity just because his ultimate goal is to justify the system for acquiring wealth” (Castronovo 253).
treats people like “valuable acquisition” (Melville).
The narrator thinks only about his business and reputation
The lawyer’s office is an alienating and cold place
“Clerks face metaphoric blank walls all their lives: the wall of business to which they are sacrificed and the blank walls of their careers and lives that lock them into poverty-wage positions”
Section IV
The growing conflict in the South brings greater attention to the notion of “freedom”
“wage slavery” and dehumanization of workers
copyists’ work is a “very dull, wearisome, and lethargic affair” (Melville).
poverty and low wages of clerks
Bartleby’s critique of capitalism
for Bartleby is quite intent on another goal: to get out of circulation entirely” (Reed 258
Conclusion
Published in 1853, “Bartleby the Scrivener” is full of historical, political, and cultural specificity because Melville mentions several real individuals, historical incidents, and locations. He refers to John Jacob Astor, the Tombs, Wall Street, Trinity Church, etc. Therefore, exploring the historical context of this story will provide the additional avenue to reveal the author’s intentions. “Bartleby the Scrivener” is Melville’s critique of American capitalism, a sort of a protest story which helps to understand the realities of that time. By the 1850s, the capitalistic society had assumed new dimensions, and in “Bartleby the Scrivener,” Melville responded to class relations, capitalistic values, and way of seeing of urban market society.
The setting of the story is one of its crucial elements because it emphasizes the author’s concern about the way how capitalism influences on American society. New technology led to the development of factories and transportation; people searched for profits and wealth. “Bartleby the Scrivener” is set on Wall Street in New York, the city that had become American financial and business center by 1850s. Besides, it overflowed with brokerage houses, insurance companies, law offices, credit institutions, and banks – all economic institutions that put their business at the forefront of American organizational revolution. Thus, the values and ideas of Wall Street are extremely important to the story. “Within the story, the new religion posits money as its only value. Thus, Bartleby’s alienation and dehumanization result from the prison of his socio-economic system” (Bendixen and Nagel 43). In pursuit of the enormous wealth, capitalists reached their goals by establishing monopolies and paying extremely low wages to their workers. By the middle of the nineteen century, the development of capitalism had matured to such extent that real conflicts took place between capitalists and wage laborers in the form of street violence and numerous strikes. Moreover, former close bonds between employees and employers were eliminated.
At the time of “Bartleby the Scrivener,” lawyers had the most successful businesses, especially those who managed holdings in bonds, stocks, and real estate The fast and endless flow of stocks, paper currency, and real estate demanded thousands of office operatives, including clerks, office boys, copyists, and various agents (Johnson 82). Besides, New York’s financiers and merchants also became prominent and wealthy people in the country. Such businessmen as John Jacob Astor and Andrew Carnegie were among the most successful and influential figures in the social and political life of New York. In “Bartleby the Scrivener,” the narrator mentions the name of John Jacob Astor and says, “I do not speak in vanity, but simply record the fact that I was not unemployed in my profession by the late John Jacob Astor, a name which, I admit, I love to repeat; for it hath a rounded and orbicular sound to it, and rings like unto bullion” (Melville). The author sets the narrator up as financially independent and also emphasizes his own awareness of the political situation in New York during the time of the story’s publication. Melville’s reference to Astor is quite significant because a few years before the story’s composition, the Astor Place Riots took place in New York. Politicians were sure that the riots were caused by class struggle and class alienation because the social separation was typical of American society at that time and is also depicted in “Bartleby the Scrivener.” However, Melville does not depict class struggle in a direct way because even Nippers and Turkey who acquired ulcer and alcoholism because of the low wages do not think of rebellion.
The narrator of the story is an elderly, successful lawyer who has a good reputation, capitalistic values, and wealthy acquaintances. He considers himself well-intentioned and sympathetic, especially to Bartleby. However, “the scrivener refuses the narrator’s charity just because his ultimate goal is to justify the system for acquiring wealth” (Castronovo 253). His values are, definitely, the values of capitalism because he is interested in great profits and big business without working unduly, and to achieve the success he readily sacrifices the humanity of his employees. “I am one of those unambitious lawyers who never addresses a jury, but, in the cool tranquility of a snug retreat, do a snug business among rich men’s bonds, and mortgages, and title-deeds” (Melville). The fact that the narrator admires John Jacob Astor, a ruthless capitalist, reveals him not from a positive side. The man does not respect his employees but vice versa makes a joke of their weaknesses. In the incident when the lawyer gives Turkey his “a highly-respectable coat”, he performs this act just because Turkey’s coat is too worn and shabby that it will affect the chambers in a negative way. “In the ironic display of the narrator’s attempts to rationalize his acts in relation to his employees, “Bartleby” offers Melville’s critique of the workings of ideology; in its disguised paradigmatic plot of betrayal and guilt, the tale reveals Melville’s own attempt to contend with the return of the political unconscious” (Foley 87). The lawyer talks about his workers in terms of usefulness and calls Bartleby “a valuable acquisition” (Melville). Nevertheless, when he realizes that Bartleby’s presence in the office may attract the unwanted attention to his business and scandalize his reputation, the man tries to get rid of the worker in favor of his own business. Thus, the lawyer possesses only capitalistic values and pursues profits neglecting feelings and emotions of his employees.
The office of the narrator is situated on Wall Street, on the second floor of a three-storeyed building surrounded by much taller buildings. Therefore, the views from the windows are walls of the adjacent edifices. “Clerks face metaphoric blank walls all their lives: the wall of business to which they are sacrificed and the blank walls of their careers and lives that lock them into poverty-wage positions” (Johnson 88). Obviously, the atmosphere in the lawyer’s office is work-oriented but devoid of a sense of community, friendliness, and support. Bartleby’s colleagues do not try to find out the reason for his resistance but blame him for indolence. In general, Melville describes Wall Street as an alienating and cold place where creating close human relations is a difficult task.
One of the most pressing concerns of the US in 1850 was the growing conflict between the South and the North, slavery and freedom, which resulted in the Civil War of 1861. In 1853, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” which quickly became popular because this piece of fiction expressed the repulsion that Northerners experienced toward slavery. At the same time, Southern politicians attacked the Northern factory system by calling it the “wage slavery,” and that the condition of wage laborers was even worse than of slaves on plantations. In debates over this issue, intellectuals and politicians were perplexed by the task of defining the meaning of the word “freedom” for Americans. Undoubtedly, this issue was reflected by Melville in “Bartleby the Scrivener”: the depiction of dehumanization of workers in a capitalistic culture that valued money first. “The social issues include the paying of poverty-level wages for long hours of work; the mindless monotony of the work that destroys individuals; the hopelessness that is bred by the impossibility of advancement, and materialistic system of values to which workers are sacrificed” (Johnson 79). The money-driven capitalists hired a lot of workers to perform dull and grueling work.
There were no computers and even typewriters; therefore, copyists were required to make numerous copies of the documents by hand that could run to five hundred pages. Melville writes that within a week of Bartleby’s work, he completed four 500-word documents. The second part of the copyist’s work was also difficult. Due to the fact that absolute accuracy was required, copyists had to verify each document word by word. Even the narrator describes this kind of work as a “very dull, wearisome, and lethargic affair” (Melville). The author writes that copyists had to work from early morning till six o’clock six days a week. They did not receive regular salaries because they were paid $0.04 per one hundred words. Thus, Bartleby could earn $2.80 per five hundred words (Johnson 89). Besides, proofreading was not paid. Nevertheless, clerks were regarded superior to factory workers, but most of them were doomed to poverty due to extremely low wages. Moreover, the copyists’ lives were hopeless because of the impossibility of advancement and emotionally draining and limited job. In the final paragraph, the lawyer finds out that Bartleby’s previous work was working in the dead letter office. Figuratively, clerks and copyists can be compared to dead letters because they have been born to live a full live, love, aspire, and create something new. However, instead, they cannot afford such things because of the nature of their work which is, in addition, underpaid.
As a rule, the motor of capital is the regular exploitation of workers to produce additional value, which does not take into consideration personal characteristics of employees as well as their feelings and preferences. Bartleby’s critique and denial of such system consist of varied refusals. He refuses to do his job as a scrivener and even refuses to it. Bartleby’s behavior becomes extremely puzzling for the lawyer when the copyist refuses to take his wages because the narrator cannot understand how a man does not aspire to earn and deal with money. “While Bartleby’s refusals foreground the spectral at work in the mundane, they are not aimed solely at revealing the disequivalence at work in capitalism, for Bartleby is quite intent on another goal: to get out of circulation entirely” (Reed 258). However, this desire of the copyist results in the imprisonment and death that implies the fact that Melville considered capitalism as a trap without any way out.
Works cited
Bendixen, Alfred, and James Nagel. A Companion to the American Short Story. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print.
Castronovo, Russ. "Occupy Bartleby." J19: The Journal of Nineteenth-Century Americanists 2.2 (2014): 253-72. Print.
Foley, B. "From Wall Street to Astor Place: Historicizing Melville's "Bartleby"" American Literature 72.1 (2000): 87-116. Print.
Johnson, Claudia Durst. Labor and Workplace Issues in Literature. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2006. Print.
Melville, Herman. Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. Web. 24 Jun 2016.
Reed, N. C. "The Specter of Wall Street: "Bartleby, the Scrivener" and the Language of Commodities." American Literature 76.2 (2004): 247-73. Print.
