Bartleby The Shrivener

4 Pages 961 Words

In Bartleby the Scrivener the writer talks a lot about the “main character” Bartleby, and how he ‘prefers’ not to do certain things expected of him from society. Brandon and I talked about the symbolism that Bartleby and the lawyer he works for attach to themselves throughout the story.
Bartleby starts his job by putting his nose into his work and doing as he is expected, but towards the end he chooses not to do things expected of him which frustrates his boss. In the end Bartleby gets left behind from his employer who has to move from him and later dies in a grass yard at a jail. The motions that Bartleby takes a reader through are not easily provided, but when looked at the events have many meanings to a person’s life whether it be now or in 1853.
At the end of the book there is a major symbolic gesture between Bartleby and a way of life. The story notions that Bartleby may have worked as a clerk in a dead letter office where he has to continually load letters and then annually know they get burned out. This is symbolic of a person’s life because everyone pushes themselves to do what is expected and attain their goals in a standard time. For example, the college quarterback is expected to be great on the field, maintain the best GPA, and allow themselves time to function as a student. However, they find themselves burning out before they even start because they are expected to be great at everything all at once. The problem is that they can only do what pleases them.
In Bartleby the Scrivener, Bartleby does everything expected of him until one day he just burns himself out. He is like those letters. He constantly is working and doing the socially accepted roles that he was given, until one day he just gets tired of it. He becomes a vagrant and annoys society.
This too is symbolized in the story via the lawyers relationship with Bartleby because Bartleby becomes a vagrant within his boss’ firm. People ex...