“I am a man who, from his youth
upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of
life is the best. Hence, though I belong
to a profession proverbially energetic and nervous, even to turbulence, at
times, yet nothing of that sort have I ever suffered to invade my peace.” (loc
8-12).
Told in first person by a lawyer, Bartleby, The Scrivener, A Story Of
Wall-Street, by Herman Melville, talks of a time when few people are
financially well off, and many must work hard to be able to live. The passage I quoted I feel, is an
introduction of the story, setting the time or era that the story takes
place.
The lawyer speaks of his
scriveners, although far below his educational level, as hard workers that
reside in their positions to benefit him.
However, when Bartleby comes to be employed by the lawyer, I feel he
teaches the lawyer a lesson in life.
Bartleby is a quiet, yet “to the point” individual that, instead of
continuously doing as he is told, simply responds with a “matter of fact”
statement of “I would prefer not to”, versus being rude and outright saying no,
I won’t do it, putting the lawyer into an unfamiliar position.
This passage has a lot of meaning,
part of it saying that although the lawyer has worked hard, it was easy for
him, and has always found himself in a relaxed state of mind. However, Bartleby the Scrivener has in a sense,
shaken up his perfect little world and teaches the lawyer a lesson in life by
doing so.
I feel this passage sets the reader
up to begin thinking from the very beginning of the story that people learn
from one another, and although Bartleby was a so-called “blue collar worker”,
he portrayed himself as a well-educated individual that mirrored the actions of
the “white collar worker”. Bartleby
portrays a message to me, basically stating one can learn and become bewildered
by the apprehensions of the so-called blue collar workers who have had to work
hard, and, in the process, learning how to out speak the well-educated and
financially stable people of the world, still get succumbed to the segregations
of the white collar and blue collar workers, and still never move up in the
financial world.
I like how you bring up the point that the way Bartleby acts is so confusing to the lawyer due to the fact that he is so used to the segregation of blue collar and white collar. I think it would be extremely beneficial to our society if the big C.E.O's and business executives could be able to relate to the people they employ because it would create a community that could thrive and innovate new ways of becoming more productive and equal. The upper class and middle class need to stop spreading further away from each other and collaborate.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering what lesson you thought the lawyer was learning from Bartleby though. You kept mentioning it, but I didn't really get exactly what you meant by the lesson being learned.
The lesson of life, not taking people for granted, and acknowledging his employees as people, not just as his employees.
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