Essays on Bartleby

The positive aspects of Booker T. Washington’s position on the assimilation of blacks into the free communities of the United States revolve around his recognition of the rigid color line that existed at the time. Even with a Civil War tarnishing the nation’s history, traditions remained unchanged and white supremacy was the epitome of American cultural norms. To that end, Washington’s argument that persons of African descent ought to “cast down [their] bucket where [they were]” is perhaps the best advice anybody could have given the ex-slaves (1895, par.4). After all, the abolition of slavery not ...

The relationship of one towards other has always been one of the most important ethical issues. The limits of what one can and cannot do within ethical bounds have long been controversial. With new technologies constantly being developed, and products being easily marketed from one nation to the other, the problem arises as to when one should be allowed to do this and when it is unethical. When it comes to this type of product, it is unethical to allow people to manufacture it in a nation that has proven its effects to be toxic on the human body, ...

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 ...

As with any significant new technology, drones have changed the human experience. Nevertheless, it is important to also take into account the ethical aspects that these modifications may have on humanity. In this sense, one of the greatest factors would be the invasion of privacy, which drones allow in a more discreet manner. Furthermore, they may also be used for wars, helping combat enemy troops from far away, without having to sacrifice one’s own men. As expected, this would lead different ethical theories to have various positions on the subject, especially deontology and utilitarianism. As a whole, paradoxically ...

Immanuel Kant is one of the greatest Western philosophers of all time. His work has had a profound influence on those thinkers that came after him in many different areas. One of the most important of these spheres is ethics, where he attempted to develop a metaphysic of morals. In this sense, he did not wish to just determine what the correct and incorrect courses of action were, but to establish a theory that would serve to determine how one should act. He attempted to establish universal laws that would govern people’s behavior through reason. As such, he ...

The modern society places huge expectations of conformity on the individual, forcing them to question their identity and place in the society. Parental presence and acceptance, class, income, race and physical appearance become important in how well individuals get accustomed to the often rigid demands of the society they live in. Philosophers, poets and novelists throughout history have written about the feeling of abandonment by a parental figure or a class and the resultant agony it brings to their protagonists. Werther in The Sorrows of Young Werther, the creature in Frankenstein, Lily Briscoe in To The Lighthouse and Bartleby ...

The character of Bartleby is the most interesting narrative from the narrator of Bartleby the Scrivener. The narrator describes Bartleby as “one of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable, except from the original sources, and, in his case, those were very small”. It is important to note that before describing Bartley, the narrator first describes other characters working in the law office. The description of the first scrivener is that of Turkey who the narrator describes as excellent in the morning but poor in the afternoon. The narrator also describes Nippers as ambitious and whose character is directly ...

The proposed research will compare the women in Kate Chopin's The Awakening and A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen. Specifically, the research will explore the subject of feminism. Feminism is defined as the avocation for the rights of women. Both novels present prime examples of feminism in their display of the breaking away from tradition roles and the consequences of gravitating away from these conventions. In order to effectively assess the conventions of the women in both works, the research will necessitate examining the symbols and characteristics associated with the characters. Ibsen's main character, Nora, is on a quest ...

1. What is the Boss up against in relation to Bartleby? What does Bartleby represent? Who are the major players in the story? What do we know about them? Are they likable? Sympathetic? Realistic?

In the story, Bartleby is portrayed as a character that goes against the norms. The phrase, “I would prefer not to” shows his attitude towards not following the path followed by the majority. Consequently, the Boss is against this retaliation which Bartleby possesses. The story also shows that Bartleby is representative of a force apart from his individualism. This is largely a result of Bartleby’s way ...

One day, while reading the morning newspaper that came to me every day as I sat in my room, I saw an advertisement for a job as a scrivener at a high-powered law firm on Wall Street. I was curious about this, despite the fact that I did not feel particularly up to talking to anyone. For the most part, I tend to find myself feeling very withdrawn, almost catatonic, unwilling to engage with the outside world or expend energy in order to actually get things done. Even so, I felt a desire to try to break those habits, as some unexplainable pull ...

1. This books at the basic norm in the office and how people behave in the office . It follows the character of Bartleby and all his workmates. Societal norms are what the author looks at when he takes us through the working a New York law office . The office has people who have been thee working for a longtime. The fact that they are long serving shows that they follow the ways things operate in the society.

The fact that Bartleby being a new lawyer had an impeccable record showed that it was not a must for you to follow society norm to ...

The setting of the novel is in a small law office on the Wall Street. The focus of the narrative is more on the personality of one employee, Bartleby. The author tells the story through a narrator. The authors use of a narrator in the novel ensures that the reader gets as close as possible to Bartleby. This approach enables the reader to perceive everything through the senses of main character’s employer thereby identifying with the feelings of the narrator. This approach evokes the emotions of the reader in a way that the reader feels duty-bound to try to solve the mystery ...

Final Topic Paper – “I am Bartleby”

In light of the professor’s and group comments, I have made several changes to the paper. First, I removed all explicit mentions of schizophrenia in the work, as that would be ahistorical, and made arguments about Bartleby’s mental condition more even-handed. Most substantially, I have included more work throughout the text of the paper exploring Bartleby’s motivations for his actions throughout the story, focusing somewhat more on his frustration with the futility of capitalist society and its emphasis on hierarchical work structures. I have also completely changed the final paragraph to make it more of a comprehensive ...

1 – I, Bartleby One of the most compelling elements of this paper is the sheer level of detail and writing style placed in the work itself – the work reads very well as a first-person short story, which is a good indicator of the strength of the work as a work of fiction itself. Bartleby’s state of mind is, almost by necessity, demonstrated by Bartleby himself having a uniquely clear knowledge and awareness of his own psychological conditions. The use of the Mitchell paper as an in-universe paper is quite interesting, as it indicates that Bartleby has been treated for melancholias before, ...

While Emily Dickenson and Robert Frost were writing poems at the same time period of American poetry, they represent very different styles, sometimes write about different subjects, but also sometimes explore the very same questions with their poetry. Most notable, both poets consider the passage of time, aging and death as themes worthy of being explored in verse. One of the most notable differences between the poetry of Frost and the poetry of Dickinson is the length that both poets use to convey their themes and message. With some exceptions, Frost tends towards mid-size poems of 4-6 stanzas ...

The poem This Be The Verse was written by an English poet and novelist Philip Arthur Larkin in April 1971. It was published the same year in the quarterly magazine New Humanist and later in 1974 appeared in Larkin’s poetry collection High Windows. This poem is considered to be the most quoted and recognizable. The title of the given poem is an allusion to the equally famous verse Requiem by Robert Louis Stevenson. Larkin not only quotes Stevenson but also echoes the rhyme scheme (abab) and the epigrammatic phrasing of Requiem (Dubrow, 2014): “This be the ...

The story of “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” is a playful elaboration of the theme of race, charity and selfishness developed over the elements of legal, ethical and social bindings. The story revolves around the character of Bartleby and his conduct that interweave the proceedings towards a logical illustration of concepts. The plot of the story revolves around the tussle of the two characters (narrator and Bartleby) of the story around the issue of lodging at place instigating interpretations of property rights and the law. The elaboration over the various concepts and their subsequent interpretations are defined by ...

Sonya, Svidrigailov, and Lebezyatnikov represent three sides of Raskolnikov. How? Which sides?

In his novel Crime and Punishment, famous Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky aimed at solving an important psychological and moral issue, in particular, to show people the failure of empty and fabled theories, as well as reveal their dangerous and destructive forces. It was the theory that became the idea of the main character, Rodion Raskolnikov, who decided that a strong person had the right to ignore the laws of conscience and morality to achieve his goal. The Raskolnikov's purpose was noble: to retrieve his relatives, in particular, mother and sister, from humiliation and death. But here again we are facing ...

An Explanation of How Hester Prynne Portrays the Author’s View

of America’s Transition from Puritanism to Romanticism 3 pages, double-spaced

Times New Roman, 12 pt

869 words Page set up: U.S. Letter 5 citations

MLA format

The novel, The Scarlet Letter, was written by the author Nathaniel Hawthorne and was published in 1850 (1). It is a story about the Puritan settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, set around 1650 (2). The story is written in the third person with the narrator being the author. The common thread that runs through this novel is Hawthorne’s apparent understanding of the beliefs and culture of the Puritans in America at that time. But ...

Grendel is a character from the heroic epic poem Beowulf that is certainly worth remembering. Despite the ambiguity of his nature, Grendel, it seems that the emotions and impulses that drive him are vaguely human. Therefore, considering vaguely human character traits that Grendel possesses, almost any ‘human’ hero with the right set of heroic qualities could defeat a monster like Grendel. When Grendel first reveals himself and attacks the sleeping men at Heorot, which is King Hrothgar's mead-hall, the narrator of the poem claims that his motives are anger and envy of the nightly entertainment at the mead-hall, while he ...

In a way, it could be argued that money was one of the main forces behind the Revolutionary War. Although a lot of people think the Boston Tea Party stated the American Revolution, the story actually began in 1763 with the conclusion of the French and Indian War. That was when the British started taxing the Americans to recoup their losses. The Revolutionary War (1775-1783) lasted over 8 years because the number of combatants kept increasing and ultimately, both the Americans and the British paid economically, socially, and politically for it.

Why Did the War Take So Long?

Even after the Revolutionary War was officially underway, it began ...

Question A

American people, or Americans, are defined as natives, or citizens form the (U.S) United States of America. This country serves as home to people originating from various national origins. In the end, Americans are not equated to their nationality based on aspects of their ethnicity, but rather, with their citizenship. Having to exclude the Native American population, all Americans as well as their ancestors were evidently immigrating within the resent centuries. Irrespective of the multi-ethnic composition, the culture contained a commonality with respect to most Americans referring to it as the mainstream American culture. The Western culture is basically derived ...

Introduction:

The tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight starts at a New Years Eve Feast at King Arthur’s court. The lavish feast is interrupted when the Green Knight arrives and issues challenge to King Arthur and any member of his Court to strike him with his own axe, on the condition that the challenger find him in exactly one year to receive a blow in return. When no one, including Arthur takes him up on this so he mocks them. In response to his taunts, King Arthur steps up and starts to take the axe. Sir Gawain jumps in. ...

Self-realization

Introduction The idea of self-realization is highly controversial especially in an environment where external factors have a high potential of affecting one’s decision. Self-realization describes the aspect of accomplishment of the possibility of a person’s personality. This entails freeing self from social and institutional norms by assuming a liberal perspective that is informed by personal beliefs. Various scholars have critically evaluated the subject of self-realization by attempting to illustrate real life incidents that describe the practicability of this idea. However, these scholars have adopted diverse and contrasting perspectives while describing the concept. Some of the scholars who have raised strong ...

In the last century, psychoanalysis has incorporated itself as one of the paramount disciplines within the field of psychiatry. The father of psychoanalysis is unequivocally Sigmund Freud; and while the science of psychoanalysis has advanced far beyond Freud, and his basic principles, his influence is still strong and pervasive. Freud’s basic principles are central in the practice of psychiatry and in psychotherapeutic practice; namely, psychic determination, unconscious mental activity, and the effects on childhood on the development of our adult psyche (Semple, Smyth, Burns, Darjee, & McIntosh, 2005). Freud also focused on the role of meaning in his vision ...

We live in a world obsessed with routine. Anyone who tries to do things differently is frowned upon. As such, the only decent thing to do is to conform. As a result, many people end up feeling alienated. They end up feeling isolated by the world which is supposed to nurture and celebrate them. Consequently, their true identity is not discovered. Despite these events, all is not lost. Some literature authors have realized this problem, and they have dared to be different. They have walked paths which not so many people have walked and changed the way the society thinks. Although ...

The inaugural addresses by both Kennedy and Lincoln have over the years been considered as being masterpieces in America’s history. Lincoln’s speech came about 50th anniversary while Kennedy speech came at the 150th anniversary. Scholars have argued that the timing of the two inaugurals might have been a coincidence. This paper seeks to compare and contrast the two inaugural addressed. This paper also argues that unity and constitutionalism were the overarching themes in the both Kennedy and Lincoln’s inaugural addresses. First of all, it is important to note that both Kennedy and Lincoln assumed office at a ...

A comparison between two ‘black sheep’

A Hunger Artist and Bartleby 2 Abstract There are certain people with strange behaviors that are usually out of conception for others in their vicinity. There are two short stories- A Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka and Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville which depict the stories of two peculiar characters. Both were stuck with something painful or strange in their lives and refused completely to behave normally or in any compliance with the society. Both the characters had their reasons. And hence, no one could try reasoning with them successfully. This short essay illuminates the comparison ...

ABSTRACT

In the years 1870 to 1900 the U.S. had become the leading industrial power in the world, with more railroad mileage and a larger steel industry than the rest of the world combined. As it became an urban, industrial society with a rapidly growing population and millions of immigrants, it faced new social and economic problems, which were addressed by an expanding government at all levels. In the Progressive Era of 1900-20, some limited gains were made in the regulation of capitalism, as well as granting voting rights to women, passing constitutional amendments for an income tax and the direct election ...

The story of Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving is about a man who shares the same name as the title of the short story. It is set during two different times, before and after the American Revolution. The tale is in the beautiful land of the Catskill Mountains in New York where a Dutch colony had settled. Rip Van Winkle had contrasting traits, which makes him very real and grounded. It is said that he is “a kind neighbor and an obedient, henpecked husband” (6). He had a wife who constantly nagged him for his idleness and carelessness. However, he was always ...

The purpose of this essay is to reveal knowledge on the importance of the environment and its preservation or restoration, as well as, enlighten on the role Christians should take to preserve the environment and world around us. The positive effects of preservation and restoration in the environment can hold a God-like quality; in the sense that, Christians who are taught to preserve the body, as God created it, should also be taught preservation of their surroundings. While the Bible talks of sins and its impact on people and government, the role of sin within the environment is evident, as ...

“Bartleby the Scrivener” is a story written by Melville. The story is defined by difficulty in interpretation as well as understanding following the creativity of the writer. There are several critics that have been brought in as stands for different interpretations of the story. Outstanding presentation is defined by proper representation of characters matched to creative elements of writing. The plot of the story is extremely straightforward. The lawyer, who is a man of sixty of age, employed on Wall Street hires a copyist, who seemed indifferent from other copyists, though the lawyer is used to peculiar copyists. Bartleby is unique. ...

In Herman Melville’s ‘Bartleby, the Scrivener’ is alienation, a character sketch of Bartleby is provided by the narrator of the story, a Wall Street lawyer, who hires him as a scrivener, a law copyist. Bartleby is described by the lawyer “one of the strangest [scriveners] [he] ever saw, or heard of” (Melville). Like the readers, the lawyer himself knows little of Bartleby’s life before he hired him. “Bartleby was one of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable, except from original sources and in his case, those are very few” (Melville). At first, Bartleby appears to be too normal, and the ...

"Bartleby the Scrivener" and Germinal - The Virtue of Refusing Labor The relationship of man to his labor is tied inextricably to his relationship with society; the way in which he handles the responsibilities given to him is often a reflection of how he reacts to the world around him. When man chooses to stop his work, it is often in resistance to a particular set of circumstances or events: for example, the way labor is rewarded in a society. If it is insufficient, either monetarily or metaphysically, one may simply decide to stop working. This relationship is often explored in ...

1) In Germinal, the character of Catherine is a miner in the mining town of Montsou, and acts primarily as the prospective love interest for Etienne Lantier. She, herself, is dramatically transformed throughout the text from a tomboyish, yet victimized and oppressed young girl to someone who dies released of that burden in a mining accident near the end of the novel. She almost seems to hide her femaleness from others due to her boyish nature; Etienne is able to mistake her for a boy, and she seems incredibly immature. However, up to her death she endures a hard life of oppression and victimization, ...

Classic English Literature

Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” was first published in a poetry magazine in 1915. Later Eliot published other poems in the 20th century for which he was awarded The Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948. This poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is a contemporary poem because it was written when Britain was considered among the modern countries of the world. This was before the beginning of World War I. It is narrated in a dramatic monologue where we find the speaker very unhappy and in mental agony. The poem became a master piece because its ...

Booker T. Washington was willing to accommodate to social and political inequality for blacks in favor of a policy of gradualism and improvement through education and economic status, while W.E.B. DuBois insisted on full civil, political and economic equality for blacks. As Washington informed the white audience at the Atlanta Exposition in 1895, blacks should be willing to forgo opposition to segregation or demands for civil rights and voting rights in favor of education, training and advancement in the commercial world. His own Tuskegee Institute was the model for his version of industrial and agricultural training for blacks, and despite ...

Edmund Spencer’s sonnet is a beautiful and clear exploration of the fickle nature of life and of love. Through a dialogue between two lovers, the poet throws open questions about the meaning of immortality.

“One Day I Wrote Her Name Upon the Strand” is an attractive example of a sonnet. It is, as sonnets traditionally are, a love poem; it recounts the exchange between the narrator and a woman he loves. We learn that the speaker tried to write his lover’s name in the sand but that the tide washed it away. Almost straight away, we are aware of sand being used ...

Othello is one of the most famous and acclaimed literary works of William Shakespeare, who is dexterous in portraying love, betrayal and jealousy in his creations. The play Othello focuses on its main theme jealousy and also educates about its possible effects. The Othello kills his wife and himself which shows how jealousy can ruin the lives. Jealousy is present in several forms in the play and it has been presented as ferocious in all the forms. This paper discusses the jealousy as the main theme of Othello and further looks at several related aspects. One incident of ...

The Scrivener’

Perhaps the most sophisticated aspect of Melville’s story is in how effectively he lures the reader into focusing on the character of Bartleby. The scrivener’s inscrutability is oddly compelling and invites one to try and “understand” Bartleby, to fashion a diagnosis, even imagine a treatment or cure. But the story is about perspective itself, the perspective of the lawyer, who can only assess and try to make sense of his enigmatic clerk within the confines of his own singular world view. True, his is the ethic of Wall Street and the pragmatic rationalism that defines the class of people ...

This is a story about a successful lawyer who is in need of an assistant. Due to this situation he hires a scrivener to assist in the daily operations at the law firm. Bartleby is the lucky candidate who is hired. Initially, he is a quiet efficient and anti social man. He works well as a scrivener but completely refuses to do any other jobs within the office (Melville, 2009). The other employees are shocked at his conscious refusal to be versatile but there is little they can do because it is his personal choice and h is good at his official duties. He ...

The Robert Frost poems “Mending Wall and “The Ax-Helve” present different interactions of the narrator with their neighbors. Neither encounter is a particularly violent or confrontational one – in fact, the neighbors in question all at least have the appearance of amicability with one another. However, “Mending Wall” sees the narrator questioning the building of a wall between them, despite their apparent goodwill towards each other, implying a hidden animosity. On the other hand, “The Ax-Helve” sees the narrator coming to a greater understanding of his intimidating French neighbor whom he was afraid of before. In this essay, we will examine the ways in ...

Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener” tells the tale of the titular scrivener, a poor, strange young man whom a lawyer takes in to help take copies at his law firm. Despite things working out well at first, Bartleby soon takes to increasingly erratic and strange behavior, including refusing to proofread a document several times over. As he works less and less, and starts living at the office, the lawyer becomes worried about him, until Bartleby just gets imprisoned, only to starve to death some time later. The character of Bartleby is an interesting and enigmatic one; the mystery of his behavior ...

Who is accountable for the Tragedy of Macbeth? This is an open-ended question that has several answers in that there are many people who could be pinned down as responsible and be backed by good evidence. The first individual to consider is Macbeth himself as he is the individual who executes all the murders within the play and consequently would perceptibly be considered the first person to be responsible. If Macbeth were an ethical individual then why would he do these? This is absolutely a strong argument and it is agreeable that Macbeth had an evil side to him that drove ...

The short story, “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville, presents one of the most captivating rebellions in American literature–captivating due to its decidedly indistinct nature. The narrator of this short story is a lawyer who wishes to employ a new scrivener with the aim of increasing the competence of his Wall Street law firm as well as to calm the temperaments of two other scriveners, Nippers and Turkey, one of who suffers from chronic indigestion and the other is an alcoholic. Initially, when Bartleby is hired for this job, he produces large volumes of high-quality work to the delight of ...

The most obvious theme in the Emily Dickinson's poem "I heard a Fly buzz is the theme of death and mortality which is clear in the first stanza of the poem “I heard a Fly buzz - when I died the fly in these case is omnipresent. The theme of death and mortality is also presented in "Because I could not stop for Death –" and "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain". The poem has a metre and a ballad structure.

The room is silent – stillness has been emphasized to show how silent the room was. There is "stillness in the air," and the ...