Blog Post #1

     With the acknowledgment Melville’s history and by comparing him to Bartleby’s character one can conclude that Bartleby is a fictional representation of Melville himself. Without having prior knowledge of Herman Melville’s history, one can say that Bartleby’s behavior is irrational and childish, but with the belief that Bartleby portrays Melville one can conclude that his behavior is reasonable.

     When I first read Bartleby: The Scrivener I was confused as to who Bartley was or represented. Due to having zero knowledge of the life history of the writer, Herman Melville, I did not know if Bartleby was a representation of Melville himself or just a fictional character who did not portray anyone in particular. My first analysis of Bartleby was that he was depressed due to the absence of a home and family. The reason for this depressed tone that I received from Bartleby was that I felt he lost something in his life that caused him to become this individual who lacked motivation. This lack of motivation may have been caused by a previous unemployment since he has recently begun to work for the main character in the story as a scrivener.

     After Thursday’s lecture and after doing my own research about Herman Melville, my previous knowledge of who Bartleby changed. Through research, I learned that the only books that were well received by Melville’s audience were books about his experience of being with his crew ship on a deserted ship. This well received novel is Typee which explains his journey and experiences during his journey. After writing Typee his audience was in search for more published work of this genre by Melville, but were disappointed to not receive this in his later published books. This disappointment from his audience lead Melville to stop writing books and instead write poetry.

     In my opinion, I agree that Bartleby’s behavior is a reasonable response to his circumstance. After learning about Herman Melville’s autobiography, I believe Bartleby’s character is a representation of Melville himself. Following my first analysis of Bartleby, my assumption of his depression can be true. As a result of Melville’s work that was published after Typee were not accepted due to the audiences’ lack of interest, he quit writing all together which could have led to depression. His audience requested more travel literature but Melville simply did not feel the need to satisfy their demand so he simply “preferred not to”.  This unfulfilled demand can be connected to Bartleby’s popular and only line in the story, “I prefer not to” which is what Melville would like to tell his audience that requested him to publish more work he did not want to.

     Overall, In the story Bartleby works a job that does not allow him to express himself or expand his knowledge. Bartleby arrives to work and only has one job which is to copy law papers. His opinion does not matter in his work space. He is only allowed to do what others want him to do and to satisfy their needs. With knowledge of Melville’s personal history, we can make a connection to Melville’s real life and audience by saying that Bartleby’s boss symbolizes Melville’s audience. Melville felt he did not have a voice with his audience since they were only accepting of one genre. At the end of the story, Bartleby dies not content with his life. Although Bartleby’s death did not actually represent Melville’s death, it is a representation of the end of his writing career.