Bartleby Essay Research Paper Society and fate

Bartleby Essay, Research Paper

Society and fate often restrict individuality and freedom of choice, and

Melville (in “Bartleby”) uses images of confinement, communication/lack thereof,

and instances of fate vs. free will to prove this. 1. The restriction that

society and fate put on people’s individuality and freedom of choice can be seen

through the images of confinement that Melville uses in “Bartleby”. 2. Bartleby

exercised his freedom of choice when he “gently disappeared behind the screen”

in the narrator’s office, but only because there was something else he wanted to

do, but couldn’t. 3. Bartleby is a mysterious character who does things for

reasons unknown to anyone else. 3. He one day just stops doing work, he hardly

ever, if ever, leaves his boss’ office (which is confinement), all he eats is

ginger nuts, and then he goes to jail for it, but nobody knows the reasons for

his actions and he doesn’t care to tell them. 3. It is clear by his actions,

that Bartleby although seeming to be exercising his right of free will, Bartleby

has to resort to confining himself in his employer’s office because there is

something else he wants to do, but can’t because of the tight restrictions

society has put on him. 2. At one point in the story the narrator describes how

“a voice came to me from within” the confinement of his office where the owner

of the voice had been all night, which would have been against the narrator’s

will had he known beforehand that the man was going to be staying there. 3.

Indeed the voice coming from within the narrator’s office was Bartleby’s, who

had stayed the night there with no hassles from anyone else because they knew

not of his decision to stay there for the night. 3. So, it was not until the

morning after that the narrator knew someone had been sleeping in his office and

using it as his home. 3. But Bartleby did not just occupy the office at night,

he also used it as his home during the day, confining himself behind the screen

wall. 3. Bartleby’s confinement behind the screen every day, and stay in the

office every night restricted him from taking part in certain actions that

people could normally do in their homes during the day or at night. 2. The

repeated phrase, “I would prefer not to” that Bartleby says throughout the story

shows the confinement of his thoughts being kept in his head. 3. Bartleby

refused to engage in conversation with other people in the story, and when other

people would try to engage in conversation with him he simply said that he would

prefer not to answer their questions, or do what they ask him to do, and that

was as far as conversation with Bartleby had gotten. 3. One possibility is that

he restricted himself from letting his thoughts go free, or beyond the

boundaries of his head for that matter. 3. The other possibility is that

Bartleby’s confinement restricted him from allowing his thoughts to exit his

head, no one will ever know for sure. 3. The reasons for Bartleby’s actions are

obscure to anyone, especially those who try to understand him, but some argue

that the reasons for his confinement in his employer’s office was because he

felt he could not find any better way to express himself. 4. Surely, the

restrictions of individuality and freedom of choice that society puts on people

in “Bartleby” can be seen through the confinement in the story. 1. The

restrictions that society puts on people’s freedom of choice and individuality

in “Bartleby” can be seen through Melville’s use of communication/lack thereof.

2. In one scene of the story, although the narrator had entered a room, Bartleby

“remained a fixture in” his chamber unmoved by his entrance into the room. 3.

Bartleby cared not that the narrator had entered the room, in fact, he probably

would have been happier if he had not even been put in the scene. 3. Bartleby

was a character who seemed to like to keep to himself, he did not really have an

interest in talking to other people or communicating in any way with others, he

would have much rather preferred to live on another planet all by himself with

the only supplies necessary for his survival: ginger nuts, shelter, and warmth.

3. Although his boss tried on numerous occasions (every day) to communicate with

Bartleby, to find out about his life or his purpose, Bartleby declined his

offers and stayed behind the screen wall most of the day doing nothing (or so

assumed nothing). 3. No one else tried to speak with Bartleby other than his

boss, and Ginger Nut, but only because Bartleby wanted food and had to ask him

to get the ginger nuts for him. 2. Bartleby’s signature phrase, “I would prefer

not to”, is an example of many things, one of which is the lack of communication

in the story. 3. Bartleby throughout the whole story makes it very clear that he

has no interest in talking to anybody and would much rather just keep to

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