Hi, everyone! I, Erin, have a new review for you today. This one is on a short story by Herman Melville. I’ve never read Moby Dick, but I have read some of his other works, including Billy Budd. This review is on Melville’s Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street.
I hope you enjoy. This story was quite an interesting read!
***
When one hears the name ‘Herman Melville,’ what does one remember? Probably, the name brings about a brief remembrance of Moby Dick or Billy Budd, which are both are novels about sailors on the ocean. Herman Melville had many jobs, including a sailor, a customs officer, a lecturer, and an author. Writing many books, Melville was not appreciated during his lifetime since other books received much more attention at that time. In fact, his books were not truly read until 1919 on the 100th anniversary of his birth. This sparked a ‘Melville Revival.’ One of his most renowned short stories, Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street, is thirty pages and was published in 1853. This story is quite an interesting read, with its in-depth characters and flowing descriptions.
Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street opens with a description of the unnamed yet important character who is the narrator and works on Wall St, NYC in the 1850s. He is an elderly lawyer. Throughout the story, the sedate narrator struggles with startling feelings of resentment while still being charitable. Naturally, the other major character in the story is Bartleby, who is a neat, respectable scrivener in the beginning. While he may have started out as such, as the story progresses Bartleby sinks into a cadaverous, haughty, mechanical human being. Working like a machine but eventually wearing out, Bartleby becomes a despicable antagonist.
When Bartleby tells the narrator,“I would prefer not to,” the conflict begins (202). [6] He refuses direct instructions. Eventually, he does less and less work until he does nothing at all. At that point, all he does is stare forlornly out the window at a dirty brick wall. The reader begins to wonder at this point if Bartleby is crazy and if he is a lunatic of some sort. Battling feelings of resentment, the narrator strives to be charitable to Bartleby, who appears to be poor and insane. However, the narrator knows that he needs to do something. When Bartleby does not vacate the building after being let go, the narrator takes more drastic steps.
The narrator decides to simply move his office, which leads to Bartleby remaining at the former office. When the new tenants enter the building, they perceive Bartleby, sitting still in his little cubicle and staring out the window at the dirty brick wall. Having been surprised and dismayed, they call the police. Bartleby is thrown in jail. In that era, prisoners had to pay money to get nutritious food, so the narrator visits and brings money. Obviously, Bartleby refuses help because he would still prefer not to. The story ends with Bartleby’s death, which is not surprising because he was as pale and cadaverous as a ghost.
Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street is a fairly enjoyable read since it is very eloquently written. Enthralled by this, readers learn many new words that previously they may have never heard of before. On the other hand, the story, in which virtually nothing occurs, is quite boring. The characters are deep. The climax is strange. The resolution is bland. Because nothing happens and the resolution is boring, readers wonder why they wasted their time to read thirty pages to get to the ending. Consequently, there is no lesson or moral to the story, which is quite disappointing overall. While the short story is a great work of art, it is not nearly as well-done as Melville’s other books.
***
When I told my mom about this story a few months ago, she nodded and said it sounded very… interesting. And it is—interesting in a sardonic, dry kind of way.
Go find the short story, read it, then share your thoughts here!
Comments