The Herman Melville’Bartleby, the Scrivener is about a man who imprisons himself in his own office. The events take place in 1850s New York City on Wall Street and describe the life of most office workers at the time. Herman Melville criticizes the capitalism that has gripped America and made people feel alienated from those around them. There are many symbols in the story, the main ones being the walls. The author uses the latter’s image to show Bartleby’s isolation from society and his total loneliness.
In the narrative, the lawyer’s office is divided into two rooms by a glass folding door, one where Bartleby works and the other where the lawyer’s station is. The lawyer installs a temporary wall between the rooms to provide privacy and avoid eye contact between him and other workers. Despite the office layout, walls symbolize the isolation people experience in their life since the office address is never mentioned. However, it is always spelled “No-Wall Street” in the text (Melville). This means that an isolated lawyer’s office is quite different from other business sectors in New York City.
At the end of the story, Bartleby is shipped off to prison and held in a courtyard center, where he is surrounded by walls, despite him being alone. The wall has a more menacing quality to serve as a symbol of disconnected isolation. When the lawyer visits Bartleby, he sees murderers and thieves locked away peering down on Bartleby, although Bartleby can only look at people through cracks in the walls (Melville). The walls serve to isolate and disconnect the felons from each other, just like the lawyer and his workers.
The white wall embodies the symbol of deficient life; the social differentiation in the 19th century between social classes grew with the development of economic monopolies of banks located on Wall Street. It acts as a symbol of two different sides of society. For example, people associated with skyscrapers represent a higher class; they are bankers and stock exchange workers. (Melville). The story demonstrates how social segregation occurs through the oppression of the less affluent by the richer. The brick barrier is associated with middle-class people who preserve humanity and are part of social division standards. Walls have proven to be symbols of segregations object in the society of Bartleby.
Isolation and disconnect from people have proved to have mental and physical interconnections taking scenarios of Bartleby. Loneliness is associated with depression and anxiety, and in some cases, it may lead to suicide. People should not establish a wall in their lives despite fears or any harsh past experiences. The story demonstrates life on Wall Street in the 1850s and addresses questions about capitalism in contemporary American society (Melville). Bartleby’s story teaches many lessons learned through the way the hero’s social position is shown in the storyline. People should always try to find a better solution to their problems that will have positive outcomes. For example, Bartleby chooses to starve himself to death in Tombs Prison at the end of the story. It was the wrong choice, but he could have thought of a better way to solve his problems, which would have positively impacted his life. Full of symbolism, the story makes readers empathize with what is happening and think about the difference between social classes in society.
Work Cited
Melville, Herman. Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street. Putnam’s Magazine, 1853.