Literary Analysis

Uncomfortable Reality A Literary Analysis of Bartleby, the Scrivener Depression is complex. Humanities fight with purpose is overwhelmingly endless. It is the cause of heart attacks, alcoholism, and suicides. It causes anxiety and worry. It can lead to a carnivorous cannibalism cycle of sorts that can eat a man alive and strip him of his soul. I Melville’s, Bartleby the Scrivener the narrator is a lawyer on Wall-street that employs a wide array of personalities as him copyists. I his office there is anger, Turkey. There is anxiety and unease, Nippers. There is innocence, Gingernut. And then there is Bartleby, the most recent addition to the office. Bartleby is Depression. He is the darkest and the most uncomfortable parts of humanity. The narrator introduces himself as quite the opposite of his whole office. Prior to Bartleby he let nothing invade is peaceful existence. He was recognized as a tranquil and safe man that produced orderly work. The narrator believes in the usefulness of his eccentric office members. However, Bartleby tries his patience, peace and emotional wellbeing. Melville’s intent in creating this short story centered around Bartleby is to embody depression and show the depths and extremeness of it that affect everyone in some way. He represents humanities dark and uncomfortably depressed side through Bartleby. In the conclusion of the short story, information about Bartleby’s past is exposed. He was previously employed at the dead letter office in Washington. Bartleby was in charge of destroying the letters by the cartload. These letters would never make it to their intended recipient. The heaviness of the task might have drove Bartleby to the worthless emptiness that we read of. However we do not know. It can be assumed at some point Bartleby was an aspiring young lad, perhaps very eagar about life's possibilities. The thorough descruction of this mans soul makes you ponder what was and what could have been. Assuming a position in Washington may have sounded and felt like a great opportunity. Bartleby may have dreamed of promotions, a full career, a family, and maybe a picture perfect life. The position though was anything but inspiring. To embed the awareness of aloneness and death could have been the breaking point. With each letter and each day reinforcing the dark abyss that awaited Bartleby and all humanity he grew more and more lifeless. Emotionally weak and in need of employment, Bartleby shows up at the door of the narrators office. The office and the narrator are comfortable and warm. Bartleby moves in, and immediately begins to crumbles into a worthless lump. Melville describes him as “useless as a necklace, but afflictive to bear” (Melville, 1853). For the narrator the emotions brought on by Bartleby are quite troubling. Disrupting the flow of the office, Bartleby’s depression radiates. Anger and mockery from the others only add to the burden on the broken soul of Bartleby. The discomfort continues to grow. Bartleby by choice of employment for the narrator at first seems a chance happening. Melville describes the job of a scrivener as ‘very dull, wearisome, and a lethargic affair” (Melville, 1853). Placing himself in such a position, among the diverse set of emotional characters, and the tranquil yet placid environment only exacerbates the theme of depression. Bartleby’s unwillingness to do the most trivial of task such as examining his own papers is symbolic of depression’s unwillingness and incapacity to examine inward. Broken and unmotivated Bartleby more deeply dives into his own emptiness. Unwilling to even do the job he was hired seems a “protest against the inscrutable nature of human existence” (Criticism, 2008) The pity of the narrator is the human instinct to nurture. “Poor fellow!” (Melville, 1853). Instead of a heavy conscience, the narrator bears the burden of Bartleby. Hiding and protecting him from abuse and exposure. Depression is a fragile state. It is a condition that sees no end in the midst of it. The narrator is empathetic to the depression in the same way he accepts the anger and nervousness in his office. He accepts it for what it is because it exists. He fears the depths of hopelessness. He aches for humanity. His melancholy for the situation “merge(s) into fear, that pity into repulsion” (Melville, 1853). With complete awareness of humanities emotional teeter, the narrator, delicately begs and gently pushes depression and Bartleby out of his life. Resistant to change Bartleby refuses to move out and on. He simply waits to die. This emotional pull affects all audience. It is a deep fear. Death. Depression. Loneliness. Bartleby’s depression seems tangible. It is close to home. Most everyone has dealt with depression of family, friends or self. When life reveals its emptiness and lack of meaning it can be heartbreaking. Without the right amount of structure and foundation even the strongest of men can collapse. What is the purpose of hustling and bustling with “all the noise, and heat, and joy” of the day when your broken soul reminds you that you are nothing special. You are simply a number awaiting your turn to die. Life continues with or without you. Bartleby’s representation of depression is illustrated even in his death. Odd and troubled he inflicted sensitive beings around him with troubling situations of their own. In death he can be contemplated and reminisced of with a sense of forlorn pity. In death a new beginning is given to the narrator as the burden is lifted from his shoulders. However life can never be the same. The emotional stresses of watching a person die simply from giving up on life is a burden on its own. Humanities struggle with depression is an uncomfortable topic for all. Melville’s short story of Bartleby the Scrivener gives sympathy and pity for the despair of a vast populous. Works Cited Criticism, N.-C. L. (2008). Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. In E. R. Whitaker, Vol 193 (pp. p49-198). Detroit: Cengage Learning. Page 51 Melville, H. (1853). Bartleby, the Scrivner: A Story of Wall-street. In H. Melville. Paragraph: 19,53,216