No matter how hard people try to break the world of the unknown, turning it into the life of the ordinary, their attempts are doomed to failure. Once created, an illusion will live as long as there remains at least a single person to support it. Because of the amazing viability of various myths, they finally merge with the truth so close that the two become inseparable.
Sunken in Misery Ocean: About Victims and Their Offenders
The two novels seeming completely different, Black Death and Bartleby the Scrivener prove to have much in common. Because of the mystic air about both plots, the novels are close to each other. Telling the story of life and death of a weird clerk Bartleby, the novel crosses the plot of Black Death with its mysterious Morgan, the wizard, Beau, the traitor and the charming, grief-stricken and disgraced Docia.
On the one hand, the two deaths have nothing in common, because Bartleby, the man misunderstood by the society is much more worth pitying than the late Beau, the lowest of the low: “How’s this?” said the grub-man, addressing me with a stare of astonishment. “He’s odd, ain’t he?” (Melville 86). Odd, not dishonorable.
However, it seems that it is not Beau who is to be compared to Bartleby. The black death in the meaning of a shame which has been planted into one’s life could also be the death of the young and beautiful Docia, the death of her hopes for the future and her very self. This is the illusion of the ordinary life that the both novels are sunk through with, the illusion of the calm and peace which is only skin deep, while the tempest within is making people tremble with emotion. Even the casual writing style emphasizes this:
The coroner’s verdict was death from natural causes–heart failure. But they were mystified by what looked like a powder burned directly over the heart. Probably a cigarette burn. (Hurston)
What strikes in both novels is the quiet and calm setting which curtains the face if the real life, so ugly and repulsive. The old shabby town in Black Death and the office in Bartleby the Scrivener conceal the weird and mysterious events which shake the places to the core, disturbing their daily course and producing quite a stir.
The Disguises of Sorrow: Becoming a Blank
Because of the shapes which loneliness takes, it can bite people in the most various ways. Either neglected, or forsaken, people are striving to keep their identity and stay themselves whatever it takes them. Creating the illusion of mundane life and of being someone else, people lose their faces literally; the reasons this remain different though.
Mourning over the death of the beloved man, the lyric character of Lowell’s poem makes the reader think of the ornate patterns of life which inevitably lead to the tragic ending. It becomes clear that the character is trying to create the illusion of life after a part of her has died. Shot through with grief and pain, it is a poem which makes the reader’s heart ache: “Christ! What are patterns for?” (Lowell)
Dealing with the same idea of losing oneself, Alvarez ponders over a different situation; creating the vision of a lonesome crow among strangers, she speaks of the grief of losing one’s own identity, merging with the crowd of foreigners: “I didn’t know if I could ever show genuine feeling in a borrowed tongue” (Alvarez). Still her character finds the will to fight back and keep the genuine self, not losing her face among the strangers:
But my face wouldn’t obey-like a tide
it was pulled back by my lunatic heart
to its old habits of showing feelings (Alvarez)
Finding the forces to create her own niche, Alvarez’s lyrical character preserves the world of her own. It is clear that this is one more illusion, yet it is vital for the character. After all, illusions are what people’s faith and life grounds on.
Works Cited
Alvarez, J. An American Girl. 2011. Web.
Hurston, Z. N. Black Death. Gibbs Magazine. n.d Web. March 5, 2011. Web.
Lowell, A. Patterns. About.com, 1999. Web.
Melville, H. Bartleby, the Scrivener. USA: ReadHowYouWant.com, 2006. Print.