Bartleby By Melville Essay, Research Paper

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 think I?ll just step behind his screen and

black his eyes for him.?(p.2411) The other scriveners also felt alienated by

the actions of the narrator. His lack of resolve when dealing with Bartleby

angered them because they knew that if they would have taken the same actions,

they would have been dismissed much more rapidly. The narrator admits to this

when he said, ? With any other man I should have flown outright into a

dreadful passion, scorned all further words, and thrust him ignominiously from

my presence.? (2409) The next theme is man?s desire to avoid conflict. The

narrator avoids conflict on several occasions. The first time Bartleby refused

to proofread a paper, the narrator simply had someone else do it instead of

confronting him and resolving the issue right then. By ignoring the problem, he

left the door open for more disobedience. As expected, Bartleby continued to

refuse to proofread and the narrator eventually gave up on asking him to do it.

The narrator went to great lengths to avoid a confrontation. When Bartleby

refused to leave the office after being fired, the narrator chose to move his

office to a different location instead of removing the eccentric man by force.

The narrator informs the reader of this idea when he says, ? No more then.

Since he will not quit me, I must quit him. I will change my offices.? (2422)

By doing so, the narrator displays just how far man is sometimes willing to go

to avoid conflict. The final theme is man?s desire to have a free conscience.

Melville reveals this theme through the actions of the narrator as well as the

new tenants of the office. The narrator attempts to appease his conscience by

giving Bartleby money above his wages when he fired him. The new tenants of the

office try to put the responsibility of dealing with Bartleby back on the

narrator, but they are denied and eventually have the man removed from the

premises by law officers. Herman Melville uses the actions and reactions of the

characters in ?Bartleby the Scrivener? to disclose three important themes,

alienation, man?s desire to avoid conflict, and man?s desire to keep a free

conscience. In doing so, he gives us an inside look into the workings of the

human mind. The reader is left with the impression that all people, including

lawyers, have compassion for other humans, and at some point, that compassion

will show through Biblio- Heath Anthology of American Lit., Third Edition, Vol I

, Paul Lauter Ed.