Herman Melville was a famous author in his time and is often known for writing the well-known novel Moby Dick , but Herman has many other incredible novels and stories. Bartleby The Scrivener is one of Herman’s most well-known short stories, making it significant to study through literary analysis. Herman Melville wrote Bartleby The Scrivener in 1853. Herman Melville was born on August 1 st , 1819, and died on September 28 th , 1891. Herman wrote Bartleby The Scrivener while he was living in New York City.
Herman’s occupation is evident through his literature; he worked as a sailor for five years, he worked as a schoolteacher for eight years, and Herman also served as an officer on a merchant ship for four years. Herman Melville experienced many aspects of human life including poverty, marriage, fatherhood, traveling throughout the world and interacting with various cultures. Herman’s biographers speculate that Herman had dealt with manic depression, however Herman had never been diagnosed with this mental illness.
Herman’s career in literature was not always successful; Herman even struggled to find a publisher for some of his novels and stories. Herman Melville is still an influential author in literature today. Bartleby The Scrivener is about a lawyer’s assistant named Herman who works for a scrivener, and Herman has an interesting coworker, Bartleby. Herman is hired to work as a law clerk by “indefatigable Lawyer,” and Herman begins working the same day he begins working at the lawyer’s office. Herman’s first impression of Bartleby is that Bartleby is “pallidly neat, pitiably respectable, incurably forlorn! Herman works with Bartleby for several months and Herman notices that Bartleby never leaves the office.
Herman does not mind this at first because he believes this means Bartleby will always do his work well. Herman begins to notice odd behavior in Bartleby after about three months of working together. Herman observes how Bartleby uses a word repeatedly in their documents that makes no sense to use repeatedly. Herman asks his lawyer what he should do with multiple copies of documents since he cannot think of anything for Bartleby to do after noticing the repetitiveness.
The Lawyer tells Herman to give them to Bartleby so he can make copies of them. Herman follows his lawyer’s orders by giving Bartleby some copies to make of the documents Herman just did, but Herman notices that Bartleby does not begin immediately copying these documents. Herman then sees that Bartleby is sitting in a corner reading instead of working on what Herman gave him. Herman is annoyed because he believes Bartleby should be getting paid minimum wage for reading on the job even though Herman knows Bartleby has no other tasks assigned to him.
Herman decides to request another task for Bartleby from his Lawyer after noticing how much time Bartleby spends reading while being paid to do nothing else. The Lawyer instructs Herman to give more work for Bartleby without assigning any new tasks or doing any of Bartleby’s old tasks. Herman is very confused by this, but Herman decides to give Bartleby more work even though Herman knows Bartleby will just sit in the corner reading again. Herman notices that Bartleby has now taken to sitting at his desk doing nothing for most of the day.
Herman becomes increasingly annoyed with Bartleby because Herman believes he is being paid minimum wage to do nothing except read all day. Herman finally comes up with a solution for getting rid of Bartleby when Herman sees how many documents need legal attention done. Herman decides that if he requests thousands of pages from his lawyer then his lawyer may request that Herman find another clerk since it is too much work for one person to handle alone. Herman requests thousands of pages from his Lawyer, and Herman’s Lawyer agrees to hire another clerk. Herman is relieved because he will not have to deal with Bartleby much longer.
Herman asks the new clerk what they should do about Bartleby, and Herman is surprised when the lawyer tells Herman that Bartleby has been fired. Herman is confused why Bartleby was let go when Herman requested a large number of documents specifically in order to get rid of Bartleby. Herman watches as Bartleby silently begins working for another scrivener after being let go by the original scrivener who originally employed him. Herman Melville wrote many other short stories such as “Bartleby The Scrivener” and “Benito Cereno. ”
Herman Melville’s work has been influential to writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac, Herman Wouk, E. L. Doctorow, Stephen Crane ,and William Faulkner because he wrote about topics that people were interested in at the time such as sailors and the sea In 1891 Herman Melville died of a heart attack Herman was seventy years old at his death Bartleby The Scrivener is a short story written by Herman Melville about a man named Herman who works for a scrivener with an interesting coworker named Bartleby. Herman’s first impression of Bartleby is that Bartleby is very strange and Herman is not sure what to make of Bartleby.
Herman notices that Bartleby keeps to himself and Herman does not hear him speak very often. Herman has never heard Bartleby’s voice and Herman decides that Bartleby must be an “inoffensive, silent young man. ” Herman determines that Bartleby must be a nice person because he seems harmless. Herman begins working with Bartleby on some legal documents, but after about three months of working together Herman starts noticing something strange about his coworker. While Herman is working on a legal document regarding real estate law ,Bartleby uses the word “would” again and again instead of using another word such as “shall” or “should.
Herman asks his lawyer why Bartleby is using the word “would” Herman’s lawyer responds that Herman does not have to worry about it because Herman is just supposed to do his job. Herman becomes very frustrated, but Herman decides it would be best if Herman just ignored Bartleby so he can get back to work. Herman notices that Bartleby keeps reading while working on documents even though Herman knows that Bartleby has no other assigned tasks. Herman asks Bartleby what he is doing when Herman sees him reading instead of working, and Bartleby tells Herman that he is reading a book with an interesting plot.