Melville's Humanity

The Sad Case of Bartleby

The short story, “Bartleby, The Scrivener” by Herman Melville is incredibly sad when examining the character Bartleby, yet the story has a deeper impact when examining the narrator, as one of the characters. What struck me as most profound was his declaration: “Nothing so aggravates an earnest person as a passive resistance,” a response to Bartleby’s continued refusal to comply (Melville 1166). Bartleby, who seems to be industrious in the beginning transitions towards a slow decline with his verbal refusal: “I would prefer not to,” which happens to turn into an automatic response throughout the rest of the novel (Melville 1164). Just like the characters in this short story, I found myself inclined to use this phrase when my daughter made mention that I needed to do something. She was not amused.

In my experiences and educational pursuits, I have been witness to passive resistance as well as a party to passive resistance, mostly in an effort to make a point. The most prevalent promoter of passive resistance was MK Gandhi, who opposed violence and oppression. Gandhi’s continued fight against oppression has left its mark on history. This demonstration without violence has an impact on those who practice passive resistance as well as those who are being resisted. Bartleby is the resistor and the narrator is the resisted. As expressed by the narrator, he experiences frustration and waffles between decisions on how to handle Bartleby. Violence or force isn’t the answer because it does not match the behavior of Bartleby. The narrator for all intents and purposes gives up; the point of passive resistance.

The children’s story written by Maurice Sendak, “Pierre,” follows a similar pattern, where the main character Pierre continually replies: “I don’t care.” More direct than, “I would prefer not to," Pierre’s reply is just as passive. At the end of the tale, Pierre shouts out: “I do care!” in response to being swallowed by a lion. In Melville’s story, Bartleby seems to be consumed by this process of resistance, so much so, that he loses his life. Bartleby seems to be opposed to everything, never wanting anything, completely apathetic. At what point does someone no longer care? It makes me wonder what Melville was thinking in terms of this character and what Bartleby actually represents.

This was a very brief analysis and comparison, however, I feel that there is so much more to Melville's story. It is not about passive resistance, so much as it is about human nature and the roles of charity and to what lengths individuals will go to care for another, and what actually motivates the charitable act(s). Sadly, the narrator purchased his conscience and was not a true benefactor. True concern for others is defined as altruistic and the behaviors are not for personal gain, recognition, or to clear our conscience. The "work" is altruistic when the individual performs acts of kindness and charity only for the sake of another. The narrator's true concern was money and how little he would have to spend to maintain Bartleby's existence in his firm and in life: the monetary value applied to a human being.

Seeing Humanity

Melville's commentary on humanity continues in other works, like "Benito Cereno" and Moby-Dick.

As an artist, one of the things that I do when I read is to take note of imagery. "Benito Cereno" did not disappoint. The very first instance of imagery was Melville’s description of a morning on the coast. Captain Delano has been informed that a ship was coming into the bay so the captain looks:

Everything was mute and calm; everything gray. The sea, though undulated into long roods of swells, seemed fixed, and was sleeked at the surface like waved lead that has cooled and set in the smelter’s mold. The sky seemed a gray surtout. Flights of troubled gray fowl, kith and kin with flights of troubled gray vapors among which they were mixed, skimmed low and fitfully over the waters, as swallows over meadows before storms. Shadows present, foreshadowing deeper shadows to come. (Melville 35).

Melville’s writing is like poetry. I made note of several instances of the word gray to describe the mood, the sea, the air, and the birds. Some of this imagery is representational in describing what things look or feel like. There is also a sense of foreboding. As the story continues we understand Melville’s: “Shadows present, foreshadowing deeper shadows to come.” This allusion to deeper shadows could even be seen to mean “darker shadows.” We continue to see imagery as Melville describes the appearance of people on a derelict ship. The ship is described as whitewashed and full of monks - “throngs of dark cowls” (Melville 36). These descriptions led me to believe that the ship was a white-owned ship full of slaves long before the revelation made by Melville: “a Spanish merchantman, of the first class; carrying negro slaves” (Melville 36). It seems to me that the term “white-washed,” used contemporarily may have origins in this passage.

One of the things I enjoy about this process is being able to “see” what the author is “showing” the reader. What is revealed says something about what is important to the writer. However, how I interpret the imagery is based on my own experiences and knowledge. Much of the last two years has been focused on history and literature and I have become more aware of “whiteness” and its impact on literature, art, history, culture, politics, etc. At one point, I became incredibly angry over social injustices and wondered how human beings could treat others poorly. As I have continued my studies I have turned my anger into empathy and compassion. I realized that I come from privilege and that the mere fact that I am white has guided me for most of my life. The one thing that has saved me from marginalizing others is the great effort my parents went through to ensure that I appreciated and respected all people regardless of their differences. I think that is why I initially became angry. I thought everyone “knew” what I knew:

“We are more alike than we are different” - Maya Angelou

American Literature and Melville

As an undergraduate in English and Art History, I feel that there is good reason to include Herman Melville and Moby-Dick in the canon of American Literature. Like his contemporaries, Melville wrote about issues of the day. If you haven't guessed yet, one of my favorite short stories by Melville is “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street.” Along with the ideas of passive resistance and compassion, this story also addresses isolation and the failure of maintaining effective communication. In the end, Bartleby is consumed by this isolation, failing to assimilate with the rest of the office. The expected routine in the office had become an “object of rejection,” which Bartleby quietly and passively resists.

Sadly, isolation and lack of motivation lead to his death. Like Bartleby, Ahab meets his end. The difference between Bartleby and Ahab is the cause. Unlike Bartleby, Ahab has a motivation that is driven by revenge. His main goal is to kill Moby Dick and in a final attempt to harpoon the great white whale, he is caught up in the line and pulled down into the sea as Moby Dick dives deeper. Another difference between the two narratives is the subject matter. Unlike the novel, the short story tells us that it is “A Story of Wall Street.” Moby-Dick has strong commentary in other areas. Interestingly, Toni Morrison talks about the whale as a symbol of a commodity when talking about Moby Dick and the transformation to metaphor: “We leave whale as commerce and confront whale as metaphor” (Morrison 142). For Ahab, Moby Dick is a representation of all that is wrong or sinful in the world. It is possible that Ahab imagined that his pursuit of Moby Dick and the loss of his own life would end violence between opposing forces. In his poem, “East Coker”, T.S. Eliot begins:

In my beginning is my end. In succession

Houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended,

Are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place

Is an open field, or a factory, or a by-pass. (lines 1-4)

In contrast, the very last line states: “In my end is my beginning.” This is a reference to the phrase Mary, the Queen of Scots embroidered on her skirts while imprisoned before her execution. It represents a hope that violence between things old and new would end. Morrison suggests that we “consider the possibility that Melville’s ‘truth’ was his recognition of the moment in America when whiteness became ideology” and her argument highlights American Literature’s fixation on ‘blackness and slavery’ (Morrison 141). The old ways of slavery and the eventual emancipation and reconstruction would be the hope of Melville’s character, Ahab.

Including Moby-Dick in the canon allows for an opportunity for interdisciplinary studies, highlighting United States history along with works like Moby-Dick can provide an engaging discussion with students about how the issues of the day during the 19th Century still play a role in contemporary political, social, and cultural views. Morrison’s view is relevant to this argument:

I would not like to be understood to argue that Melville was engaged in some simple and simpleminded black/white didacticism, or that he was satanizing white people. Nothing like that. What I am suggesting is that he was overwhelmed by the philosophical and metaphysical inconsistencies of an extraordinary and unprecedented idea that had its fullest manifestation in his own time in his own country and that that idea was the successful assertion of whiteness as ideology. ( Morrison 142)

Works Cited

Toni Morrison, from "Unspeakable Things Unspoken: The Afro-American Presence in American Literature