Bartleby, The Failure :: essays research papers

Bartleby, the FailureIt is not rare, sometimes it is even common, that an author speaks rough his orher self in their works. Herman Melvilles "Bartleby, the Scrivener" is oftenconsidered such a story. Many of the characters in the story and images createdallude to Melvilles writing flight, which was generally deemed a failure. The important character in the story can either be Bartleby or the narrator, but Melvillepartially embodies both of them. We are understanding towards the narratorsreasoning for keeping Bartleby and for the savvy he shows for Bartleby. Afterthe general failure of Moby Dick, at least in Melvilles time, he immediatelywrote Pierre, which was a deeply personal novel. This self pity could yield beencontinued in "Bartleby, the Scrivener". In addition, Bartleby seemed to feelthat continuing copying was worthless, possibly from spending many years in adead earn office. Melville plausibly felt this way, but needed to continuewriting to support his family. When Bartleby is in prison, he wastes awaywithout abruptly dying, a degeneration until the point no one notices hisabsence. Melville had reached the prime of his popularity early in his career,so when he published Moby Dick, his career was already in decline. Hisdisappointment was only to increase as his career diminished until his deathwhich was hardly noticed in the literary community. The narrator also resemblesMelville, but in a different way. Melville uses the narrator to view his makesituation from a 3rd person perspective. He attempts, and is somewhatsuccessful, in getting readers to feel sympathy for Bartleby, therefore,sympathy for him. On the contrary, the narrator also scorns Bartlebys persistence after he stops copying "In plain fact, he had now become amillstone to me"(1149). In this respect, the narrator also representsMelvilles literary critics. Behind the relationship between Melville, thenarrator, and Bartleby, one can also see the relationship bet ween the narratorand an ideal audience that Melville would have wanted. He probably wished thathis writing would be more popular among the readers, although he professed hisown demise with Bartlebys atrophy. His other employees, Turkey, Nippers, andGinger Nut, were similar to other writers who inspired Melville, such as