Bartleby Essays - Bartleby, The Scrivener, English-language Films

Bartleby By Melville In Herman Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener", the author uses several themes to convey his ideas. The three most important themes are alienation, man's desire to have a free conscience, and man's desire to avoid conflict. Melville uses the actions of an eccentric scrivener named Bartleby, and the responses of his cohorts, to show these underlying themes to the reader. The first theme, alienation, is displayed best by Bartleby's actions. He has a divider put up so that the other scriveners cannot see him, while all of them have desks out in the open so they are full view of each other, as well as the narrator. This caused discourse with all of the others in the office. This is proven when Turkey exclaims, " I think I'll just step behind his screen and black his eyes for him."(p.2411) The other scriveners also felt alienated by the actions of the narrator. His lack of resolve when dealing with Bartleby angered them because they knew that if they would have taken the same actions, they would have been dismissed much more rapidly. The narrator admits to this when he said, " With any other man I should have flown outright into a dreadful passion, scorned all further words, and thrust him ignominiously from my presence." (2409) The next theme is man's desire to avoid conflict. The narrator avoids conflict on several occasions. The first time Bartleby refused to proofread a paper, the narrator simply had someone else do it instead of confronting him and resolving the issue right then. By ignoring the problem, he left the door open for more disobedience. As expected, Bartleby continued to refuse to proofread and the narrator eventually gave up on asking him to do it. The narrator went to great lengths to avoid a confrontation. When Bartleby refused to leave the office after being fired, the narrator chose to move his office to a different location instead of removing the eccentric man by force. The narrator informs the reader of this idea when he says, " No more then. Since he will not quit me, I must quit him. I will change my offices." (2422) By doing so, the narrator displays just how far man is sometimes willing to go to avoid conflict. The final theme is man's desire to have a free conscience. Melville reveals this theme through the actions of the narrator as well as the new tenants of the office. The narrator attempts to appease his conscience by giving Bartleby money above his wages when he fired him. The new tenants of the office try to put the responsibility of dealing with Bartleby back on the narrator, but they are denied and eventually have the man removed from the premises by law officers. Herman Melville uses the actions and reactions of the characters in "Bartleby the Scrivener" to disclose three important themes, alienation, man's desire to avoid conflict, and man's desire to keep a free conscience. In doing so, he gives us an inside look into the workings of the human mind. The reader is left with the impression that all people, including lawyers, have compassion for other humans, and at some point, that compassion will show through Biblio- Heath Anthology of American Lit., Third Edition, Vol I , Paul Lauter Ed.

Simon Birch essays

Simon Birch essays Im going to be a hero. Pretty vague job description, isnt it? These lines of dialogue are a spoken between the lead character, Simon Birch, and Ben Goodrich, who is played by Oliver Platt. This proclamation sums up the driving force behind Simons actions. His quest to be a hero is Simon Birchs maguffin. It is the thing that drives him forward through the film. Throughout the film he is constantly in search of a sign from god that will tell him when the time has come for him to be a hero. This most recent adaptation of a John Irving novel, A Prayer for Owen Meany, is filmmaker Mark Johnsons Simon Birch. What needs to be understood by the viewer is that the movie is an adaptation and not the book. Reviewers repeatedly said that the movie was not like the book and the reason for that is it is not the book. This seems to be something that critics lost sight of, the movie was judged against the book and not for its artistic merit. Although the film ...premiered to cheers from the audience...(17.), most critics seem to agree that there was no justice done to the Irving novel. Variety said that Simon Birch yet again showed that, capturing Irvings mercurial tonal shifts in another medium is not so easy. The article goes on to point out that Irving himself demanded a character (and hence title) name change. As well as suggested by rather than based on credit (13.). Irving is quoted as saying, The story is significantly different from my novel and it would be unfair to my readers to mislead them to think theyll see A Prayer for Owen Meany. Its not A Prayer for Owen Meany, but I liked it. And Im happy with the way I was treated (13.). This quote leads you to believe that Irving approved of the film, but his insistence on ...