Bartleby, The Failure :: essays research papers

Bartleby, the FailureIt is not rare, sometimes it is even common, that an author speaks about his orher self in their works. Herman Melvilles "Bartleby, the copyist" is oftenconsidered such a bosh. Many of the characters in the story and images createdallude to Melvilles writing career, which was planetaryly deemed a failure. Themain character in the story can either be Bartleby or the narrator, solely Melvillepartially embodies both of them. We are understanding towards the narratorsreasoning for keeping Bartleby and for the sympathy 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 have beencontinued in "Bartleby, the Scrivener". In addition, Bartleby seemed to feelthat continuing copying was worthless, possibly from spending many years in adead letter office. Melville probably felt this way, but needed to continuewriting to support his fam ily. 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 archean 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 exactly noticed in the literary community. The narrator also resemblesMelville, but in a different way. Melville uses the narrator to view his ownsituation from a tertiary 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 Bartlebyspersistence after he stop copying "In plain fact, he had now become amillstone to me"(1149). In this respect, the narrator also representsMelvilles literary critics. Behind the relationship mingled with Melville, thenarrator, and Bartleby, one can also see the relati onship between the narratorand an ideal audience that Melville would have wanted. He probably wished thathis writing would be much 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