Bartley the Scrivener

Bartleby, the Scrivener

Jill Hardy

06/04/14

Lit 331

Baker College

Bartleby, the Scrivener

Thesis Statement: "Bartleby, the Scrivener" is hailed by some scholars as the first modern American short story for its break with the moralizing, overt allegorizing, romantic characters, form, and other traits of earlier, traditional tales. Bartleby is characterized as a man who seems simple but unwilling to give into the authority figure that has entered his life and continues throughout this short story, Melville portrays Bartleby as a man just getting by in life and enjoys to keep himself separated from others who enter his life.

In the short story "Bartleby, the Scrivener," which was written by Herman Melville, the character named Bartleby is a very strange but yet interesting individual. In the story, Bartleby is introduced when he responds to a job opening at the narrator's office.

English: American author Melville portrait

Historical marker at the site of the family home i...

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Although there is no background information given about him, it becomes very apparent that he will be the one who will works against the lawyer in the story. The lawyer, who narrates the entire story, owns his own law practice and also has an assortment of scribes who work for him. The first scrivener, named Turkey, was a short Englishman, close to the age of sixty, hard worker until 12 o' clock noon daily, after that his work would seem to decline. Nippers, the second scribe, total opposite of Turkey but was much younger and ambitious. Nippers tend to take his work very personally and when he made a mistake, he would grin with irritability and grind his teeth together. He also seemed to work better more towards the afternoon hours. Nippers took great pride in his work and would dress like a business man daily...