It seems
like no one can figure out this story and what Herman Melville was trying to
accomplish with this story. Going off of
the discussion in class on Thursday, I think that Bartleby was just a weird
guy. He would not be the kind of guy
that I would want working for me. He is
lazy and is gets paid to do absolutely nothing.
I know that he needed a place to stay and if he were to be fired he
would be out on the streets. Bartleby is
kind of a charity case. I think that I
would fire him but try to either to help find him a place to live or continue
allowing him to live out of the office. Morally I do not think that I could just let
him kick him out and leave him homeless.
“I’d prefer
not to;” a simple statement that seems innocent enough but confuses
everyone. He throws the rules out the
window it seems and he does not have any work ethics. Why would he have a job if he was not
planning on working? I think people should do a job that they actually enjoy.
At the same time, however, the attorney does not follow through and push him to
do anything. He just backs down. He gets so fed up with Bartleby that he has
to move out and let Bartleby win basically.
I would
feel uncomfortable around him because of the way he takes people out of their
comfort zone. He is repetitive and tries
to push things to their limits. I think
he enjoys confusing people to try to achieve a power shift. He does not like to be touched or talk
much. Why do you think this is? Ann brought up the idea that he could be
autistic. I do not know if that is the
case but I think that it is something to strongly consider.
Overall, I
do not like this story because it makes people confused and think about it way
too much. I prefer more straightforward
stories that have clear explanations.
I agree it was a confusing story. I didn’t know what to think of Bartleby, I thought the narrator enables his behavior. I think the narrator should have either tried to make him do his work and if that didn’t work then he should have just fired him. I couldn’t figure out why he worried so much about a man he didn’t even know. Bartleby would’ve been gone as soon as I found him living in the office. I thought Bartley was just some weird lazy guy but due to our conversation in class I think I’m going to re-read it and try to draw some different conclusions because I actually liked this story.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we are missing something about the narrator. He feels some kind of responsibility for the workers he has and sees himself as their way of having a successful American dream, so to speak. It makes me curious as to why he would feel such a guilt, that he would have to cure it by taking under his financial wing unfortunate people. He talks to himself about right and wrong a lot of the time, maybe this is because he had a time before this all happened and must now make up for it. I don't know why but I keep coming back to the narrator so as to find out more about Bartleby. I think Bartleby and the narrator get along so much because they have something very significant in common. Maybe Bartleby is the key to why the narrator cares so much. Maybe Bartleby is similar to what could have caused the narrator to want to help him so badly.. Lots of maybe's, I know, but there is something there that we are missing....
ReplyDeleteI agree this is a complicated story, bring on the twilight novels instead. (JK)
I completely agree with Becca in that Bartleby is a very weird guy. He refuses to work, yet he doesn't want to quit the job. He wants to stay busy doing something, but he refuses to do anything the lawyer asks of him. He responds with a somewhat polite yet still negative phrase, "I'd prefer not to." I felt bad for the lawyer when i read this story because he is stuck between a rock and a hard place. The lawyer wants to help Bartleby but does not want to have his firm suffer for it. Whichever option the lawyer takes (to fire Bartleby or to move his firm), ends with Bartleby being broken. I would have chosen to pay for some psychiatric help for Bartleby, but I would not have just left him there like the lawyer did. Money is a good thing, but helping someone out goes a longer way in my mind.
ReplyDeleteIt is a good story even though it is hard to decipher. Still that is the beauty of it. Being able to get different kind of perspectives and getting different opinions on the matter is great. That way it can connect to a variety of things going on in the world or someones life in some way. Even if it takes a while to realize how the story connects to them.
ReplyDeleteIt is because it is a hard to decipher story that many people like it. It makes people think critically and draw their own conclusions. Certainly its not for everyone though, people by nature want to be able to understand things, but we just can't understand this story. Maybe that was the intent of the author, to make us not understand Bartleby just as he couldn't understand him in his time(if this was based on a real experience).
ReplyDeleteThe story is very interesting. However, I feel in its attempt to become an intellectual piece it just becomes incredibly confusing for the reader. You have to read the story twice or a few times to decipher what everything means and if that doesn't prove sufficient then you are really left wondering what is going on. If the plot of the story were better explained it might make reading the story more enjoyable. This isn't the case though. The character Bartleby does seem to be a bit out of whack because of his repetitiveness in his speaking and his refusal to perform any work tasks. This combined with his constant awkwardness towards his coworkers makes him an unusual character and a kind of character that is frowned upon.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that bartleby seems weird in this story. Although I am sure there is a meaning behind this story I can not figure it out. In our class discussion someone mentioned that bartleby could have been autistic which I think would somewhat justify his actions and the way he talked but who knows!
ReplyDeleteI think that his old job had something to do with the way he was acting. His old job was the lowest you could go and it had to do with sorting out letters that were written to dead people. I think he was receiving letters from some of his family or something who thought he was dead, or he was waiting to receive a letter to him and no one ever bothered so that messed him up in the head. I also think he was "slow" because he did not want to be touched or anything. I don't know where Melville was going with this story, but it is kind of interesting.
ReplyDeleteI thought the story was good but it was hard to understand at times. I agree that his motivation to work is a result of past experiences that he has had.
ReplyDeleteI too found this story very hard to understand. I didn't understand it at all the first time I read through it. However, it made more sense after someone brought up he might have some kind of mental illness. This majestic sense because I think no one without an illness would do what he did. I never thought about this while reading but I'm glad someone brought it up.
ReplyDeleteI think that the story was good but the fact that its so hard to figure out just made me uninterested in it after the fist few pages. I think that once we all figure out the meaning and figure out how to decipher it we will all be way more interested in it.
ReplyDelete