ONLINE HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
Due Sunday, April 4, 2010
@ 10:00 PM EDT
Once you have read "Bartleby, the Scrivener," by Herman Melville, post an interesting observation about Bartleby and his Wall Street world of walls.
Guidelines for "Post a Comment" assignments are at the following link:
After reading the story, the only conclusion that I was able to reach is that Bartlebey was a very crazy individual.I guess after staring at the black wall out of his little office window drove him to insanity.It is also interesting that he had to stare at the prison wall before his demise.
ReplyDeleteThis story was rather interesting to me. I feel that no one really understood Bartleby. He never caused any problems, just really wanted to live his life in solitude. It was life that bothered him. Seems to me like his life before the story was led in solitude. I don't think that there were walls around him rather, the walls were around society, walls he never had any interest in scaling. But yet it was society that led to his ultimate demise. I felt sorry for Bartleby, he was never understood, never really respected. He simply wanted to lead his life without harm to any others and yet all the others kept interfearing with him. I could see how he could have been a bit annoying and at times intrusive, but never did he cause any real problems. He was obviously trustworthy, just simply a lost soul to society that no one really wanted to help. Although the narrator convinced himself that he tried to help him, that he's done everything he could, ultimately i think the narrator felt the blame for his death.
ReplyDeleteI think Bartleby is a very enigmatic person which deserved a psychological assistance.How can he refuse to do this part of the job which consists to proofread his work. The only explanation I could give to his curious behavior comes from rumor that he worked at a DEAD LETTER OFFICE. The silent atmosphere, I guess, which reigns in a such office might influence his behavior. Either way I think this argument is not enough to justify such a behavior that I consider as a pathological one.
ReplyDeleteI think Bartleby is a pitiful character who surrounds himself by walls. I think the walls are used as a symbol to express his sense of imprisonment in the world. He works on Wallstreet and the office is surrounded by walls. Bartleby is transfixed by these walls and and loses himself in what the lawyer describes as a "dead wall reverie". Bartleby is a bit like a wall himself in that he is impenetrable. I think he uses this wall to shield him from a society he no longer understands. Even when Bartleby is found dead, he lies facing the wall. Maybe the walls are the only thing he can rely on, being that they don't talk back and make judgements.
ReplyDeleteAndrea H.
ReplyDeleteBartleby fixation with staring at walls I can only relate to some sort of pathological issue. I believed it wouldve been appropriate to have him placed in an asylum. Alone in a room with nothing but walls, a sink and a toilet.
In this story I empathize with the character Bartleby who mentally and physically degenerated and became emaciated which led to his untimely death. I am only saddened by the fact that even though his employer realised that he was mentally deranged he didn't seek help so he could be mentally evaluated. Instead of trying to help he decided to segregate himself from him which led to his death.
ReplyDeleteI felt sadness for Bartleby and the way he passed away. If maybe he had one friend or somebody who genuinely cared for him, he may have been able to turn his life around with an optimistic outlook. I did not expect the story to end this way. I thought Bartleby would have been more amusing than depressing.
ReplyDeleteBartleby was a very interesting character to me. I think on the surface he could have been depressed or mentally ill in some way but i think it was so much more then that, there was clearly something deep inside of him that tormented him until his death. It could have been something that happened in his past or something that he's done but either way it lead to his very sad and unfortunate demise.
ReplyDeleteI found Bartleby do be a very interesting character. I wish I could of learned more about him, what was really his story? What happened to him and what did he experience to make his life end in such a sad way? I believe that he was a simple man with simple needs and desires, all he wanted was to be left alone, but why? Maybe nothing was wrong with him, maybe all the other characters are the ones that are wrong, wrong for trying to force him to do things he didnt want to be bothered to do. Wrong for not letting him be who he is.
ReplyDeleteI found Bartlebey very interesting. For a guy who has only been on the job for three days, he was pretty gutsy. I guess having no one to tend to him and staring out his office window onto the black walls drove him crazy.
ReplyDeleteI think Bartlebey was just a sad soul. I would of fired him after he refused to do the tasks I asked of him. The Narrorator felt bad for him, or he would of gotten rid of him right away.
ReplyDeleteKEVIN K
Bartleby came off as an interesting character. He has the characteristics of a psychopath. His need for a straight jacket ultimately led him to his death.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the walls were such a significant aspect to Bartleby's character in this story. To me it represented his pain; a dead end. I feel that without the walls his character would be different and understanding Bartleby would then be more confusing.
ReplyDelete