Bartleby, the Failure
It is not rare, sometimes it is even common, that an author speaks about his or
her self in their works. Herman Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener" is often
considered such a story. Many of the characters in the story and images created
allude to Melville's writing career, which was generally deemed a failure. The
main character in the story can either be Bartleby or the narrator, but Melville
partially embodies both of them. We are understanding towards the narrator's
reasoning for keeping Bartleby and for the sympathy he shows for Bartleby. After
the general failure of Moby Dick, at least in Melville's time, he immediately
wrote Pierre, which was a deeply personal novel. This self pity could have been
continued in "Bartleby, the Scrivener". In addition, Bartleby seemed to feel
that continuing copying was worthless, possibly from spending many years in a
dead letter office. Melville probably felt this way, but needed to continue
writing to support his......
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Approximate Pages: 2 (260 words per double-spaced page) |