Herman Melville Research Paper

In Herman Melville's short story, Bartleby, the Scrivener, the narrator's attitude towards Bartleby is constantly changing, the narrator's attitude is conveyed through the author's use of literary elements such as; diction-descriptive and comical, point of view-first person, and tone-confusion and sadness.

In “Bartleby, the Scrivener” the author, Herman Melville, uses indirect references to hint to many historical, literary, and biblical events. “Bartleby, the Scrivener” contains many allusions about important events that help connect this fictional story to actual events in Melville’s time period, before, and beyond. Melville uses allusions frequently throughout “Bartleby, the Scrivener” to help build connections with the real world and the fictitious world of this short story.

Herman Melville’s “A Utilitarian View of the Monitor’s Fight” was a part of a collection of poems from the book titled Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War, published in 1866. It was the first book of poetry written by Melville. According to authors Geoffrey Sanborn and Samuel Otter, “It is a great anti-war poem, one that in its focus upon warfare as the expression of industrial power could be said to lay the groundwork for an anti-war tradition of poetry in English that would reach a kind of pinnacle in Wilfred Owen’s Dulce Et Decorum Est (Sanborn and Otter, 2011).”

In Part V of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, Jean Valjean, through the following quote, "To owe life to a criminal...to betray society in order to remain true...these absurdities should come about and be heaped on top of him...it was this that defeated him," explains how Javert’s subjugation to his internal conflict imploded and eventually influenced his suicide (Hugo 1181). History has shown that a person’s or group’s decision to take action with their given situation will inevitably have an effect on their state of conflict. Events such as the American and French Revolutions evidence this statement. Similarly, a person's state of conflict will also inevitably form them into whatever the situation yields. A well-known American

Herman Melville was born in New York in 1819 so he grew up in a time where slavery was still common and accepted, but in an area in which blacks were treated with much more respect than they were in the south. His father 's relatives could be traced back to a man who was a part of the Boston Tea Party and both his mother and father had relatives who fought with the union in the Revolutionary war (Johnson). Melville had many jobs growing up, including teaching, being a bank clerk, and sailing on a whaling ship, which is what jump started his writing career (Johnson). Many of the stories that Melville writes take place out on the sea and tend to be quite adventurous and unexpected, much like Benito Cereno. This style is more than likely

This attitude also reflects a change in Melville’s life. As a child, he lived in a wealthy luxurious home (Parker 22). However, Melville’s father had borrowed excessive amounts of money and was slowly becoming increasingly irrational (56). As the family fell out of the upper class due to their huge debt, they lost their opulent house and servants and Melville lost his ability to go to school. During his teens, he was forced to work full time

Herman Melville had an interesting life, that came with many troubles and challenges. He was born on August 1st, 1819 to Allen and Maria Melvill of New York (Maxwell, D.E.S.). His family was a well-respected one, then their import business fell through and they moved to Albany, New York. Their finances were desperate. During this time they changed the spelling of their last name and added an e, to be spelled, Melville (Maxwell, D.E.S.). In 1835 Melville was already beginning to write, and while he was discovering writing, his family went bankrupt and moved to Lansingburgh.

Melville’s short story Bartleby the scrivener, describes the narrator as an elderly old man that wishes to give details of the life of Bartleby the scrivener. Bartleby was a completely emotionless human being who refuses to interact with the world around him. These actions shape the short story, picking at its viewers mind as to why Bartleby is disconnected from society. Bartleby worked in the dead letters office this may have triggered his inability to relate to the world around him. This motionless docility covered his inner troubles that he withheld from the world. The narrator states “I have known very many of them, professionally and privately, and if I pleased, could relate divers histories, at which good-natured gentlemen might smile, and sentimental souls might weep.” (Melville’s). In this he means that many persons might choose to smile as they find pleasure in reading “Bartleby” as much as those who might weep because they find the short story to be discouraging. In the 1970’s adaptation is one of those sentimental souls that the narrator is talking about in that it weeps for Bartleby, however the narrator brings the humor to life as he becomes speechless to Bartleby preferring not to do his work.

Men and women are faced with inevitable walls as they go through their daily lives, the strength of their character is derived by how they tackle these walls. Herman Melville gives us a glimpse at how walls can eventually destroy us if we give into them. In his short story, Bartleby the Scrivener, the narrator tells the story of a clerk he once employed, Bartleby. At first, Bartleby seemed to be the perfect employee, but he eventually began to shirk his work and depart into himself. Through the narrative, the narrator gives his account of how he dealt with Bartleby and gives the reader a look at the walls Bartleby dealt with in part of his life. The walls Bartleby continuously encounters throughout the text are a symbol of his isolation

Is the narrator of “Bartleby” a selfish or an unselfish man? Defend your answer with evidence from the story. The narrator of Bartleby is not a selfish man. Instead, he was the type of man who tried to do everything for someone who was in need. He tried his best to be there for one of his workers when he knew he was not well. Bartleby was a man who was a great worker. He was a man who knew what he was doing and what needed to be done from him. He was extremely caught up with his work, as he had nothing else to do and no one to be with. The story changed when Bartleby's attitude about everything changed. The first thing he did was he prefer not to do what his boss asked him to do. He gave no explanation why but made it clear that he won't

Herman Melville’s short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener” reveals different themes such as isolation and human morality test. In the story, the narrator runs a law firm and has a new Scrivener [Bartleby] who the narrator describes as“ the strangest I ever saw or heard of” (661). For the first few days, Bartleby is seen to be working fine, however, one day Bartleby just responds with “I would prefer not to” when anyone assigns a task to Bartleby (674). The real problems start to arise when Bartleby sleeps and eats at the office while denying to work or leave. The narrator illustrates the two main themes of human morals and isolation throughout the story with the use of biblical references to Bartleby as a leper and shows symbolism of the

Bartleby- The Scrivener In Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener”, the author uses several themes to convey his ideas. The three most important themes are alienation, man’s desire to have a free conscience, and man’s desire to avoid conflict. Melville uses the actions of an eccentric scrivener named Bartleby, and the responses of his cohorts, to show these underlying themes to the reader. The first theme, alienation, is displayed best by Bartleby’s actions. He has a divider put up so that the other scriveners cannot see him, while all of them have desks out in the open so they are full view of each other, as well as the narrator. This caused discourse with all of the others in the office. This is proven when Turkey exclaims, “ I

“The best thing about my job, though, is stopping at the end of the day and rejoining the human universe.” Orson Scott Card. Known as one of the best fictional writers to exist, Card brings people into a whole new world with his novels (Enders). Card’s life is full of ups and downs and he experiences a broad range of different experiences. Card’s life includes many different aspects via his biography, the time of which he lives in, and what impact he has left on the world.

Through the years, it has been known that sin is bad and is at the root of evil. Many claim that it causes feelings of guilt; feelings that do not easily go away. Nathaniel Hawthorne stated his feelings by stating “Show freely to the world, if not (their) worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred.” to say how he felt people should react after they commit sins. He tells future posterity of how they can be redeemed of their sins, and though he may have been correct on some of the ways to repent, he may have also missed some key details. While we do need to come forward from our sins to be completely forgiven, it may not be necessary to become a living embodiment of the sin like Nathaniel believes that we should be.

In much of what we “identify" with in our everyday lives has to do with the relationships we have with one another. These relationships are ultimately embedded into our memory for basically the rest of our lives, and with some shape or form, shape us to who we are today. These relations, similarly have to do with faces, actions and personal experiences that we have never been exposed to before. This type of exposure is apparent in Herman Melville’s Typee,where “identity” is of critical importance to that of Tommo, the narrator, along with the tribe that he encounters while stranded on the island. There are numerous instance as to where Tommo questions his moral and somewhat physical ‘identity’ in Typee. These events such as Tommos decision to tattoo himself is a major identity crisis because it’s not something he, nor his Western culture is really exposed to or familiar with. The Typee practices and societal structures displayed by Melville in Typee allows the reader in some case, to compare and contrast how Western civilization and the “other” [Typee] reaffirm “identity.” In a sense Tommo and his decision, by the end of the novel, really allows the reader to understand what creates and helps maintain identity for ones self.