The Meaning Of Walls In Bartleby The Scrivener
Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener” uses the setting to set the tone, the theme, the tone, and most importantly, the character of Bartleby, an aspiring scrivener, in his story. The description and location of Bartleby’s jail yard suggests the parallelism of the setting with his characteristics. The narrator visits Bartleby when he is in prison for vagrancy. He directs him towards the yard. Bartleby sat in solitary confinement for vagrancy and was unable to resist the narrator’s descriptions of his yard.
Bartleby meets the narrator who is his employee. Bartleby’s preferences are tolerated by the Narrator until they affect his work. After that, the Narrator is forced into firing Bartleby. Bartleby is later arrested and taken into custody as a vagrant. The author depicts the prison in detail. The prison yard is surrounded in walls of “amazing thickness, keeping away all sounds behind,” and “masonry burdened upon me.” (556). This description creates the powerful impression that you are isolated. The prison is described by the author using the image a pyramid. A pyramid is a closed and isolated area for burials. Images of the prison yard are reminiscent of earlier images. The narrator sets up a workspace for Bartleby, which has him facing the wall of the next building. Bartleby is able to isolate himself incrementally from other people by building walls in his office. But the setting is taken to its extreme in the yard. He is able achieve complete isolation. The narrator interprets it as a form deprivation that he believes is madness. The setting is connected to the mind’s state. Bartleby’s mental status, which is described as deranged and isolating walls in the physical setting, is also echoed by the narrator.
This setting reveals not only Bartleby’s psychological state, but also his socio-economic status. Bartleby’s isolation from the rest of the prisoners in the prison yard suggests that he is at the top of his social isolation (556). Bartleby’s refusal to speak with the narrator (544) further supports this idea. Bartleby’s systematic exclusion from society is evident throughout the story. This separation can be seen in how he treats space and setting. He prefers working alone and his cubicle becomes more isolated. Bartleby’s departure from society does not mean that he is isolated from others. He is also trying to separate himself from values in the society. They are inherently capitalist, and upheld by the Narrator. The narrator, a wealthy lawyer and man who believes in the US capitalismist system, is his hero. Jacob Astor is America’s first millionaire and the hero of this narrator. Bartleby is not following Wall Street’s rules when he creates a strategical space to his advantage. He also refuses “copying” the documents (546).
Bartleby’s prison yard isolation suggests other implications. In essence, it is clear that Bartleby is resisting certain social norms. The setting is another clue to the success of Bartleby. Bartleby is encased with brick in a darkened yard that appears to be shady and dank. It is possible to grow something productive in such a setting if you look closely. “…imprisoned lawn grew underneath the feet” and “…by some mysterious magic…grass seed, dropped by birds had “sprung” (556). Bartleby resists the pressures of his environment which rewards wealth. The green grass and turf here echo the cubicle walls’ “high green folding screen”. The green of the turf and grass here isn’t associated with money as in cubicle walls. But unlike those walls, which are associated with money, the green represents the possibility to rebirth. Bartleby is seen to be engaging in passive resistance. This resistance can be encapsulated with the phrase “I prefer ….” (544). The setting, especially the green turf, encodes it.
Bartleby’s suicide was the ultimate result of his resistance. Bartleby’s death is a clear indication that people like him, who do not subscribe to capitalism, are out of place in our society. Bartleby was a dead letter monitor who lost his ability to see beyond his own interests. Even though the narrator may not be able to see it, the message is still there, and it underlies all of the text, including the setting.
If you tell a brief story, characters can have their characteristics reflect the setting. The prison yard’s thick walls, which resemble a pyramid, mirrors Bartleby’s mental and social state. Bartleby is shown passively resisting the growth of “imprisoned soil” and grass seeds (556). Bartleby’s description seems to permeate the text, including the setting.
