Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street part 9

Your Questions, My Questions….
1. Why don't we know anything about Bartleby other than what we see of him in the story? Is that a weakness of the story?
2. Why doesn't the Boss just fire Bartleby?
3. What does the Boss do for a living? What kind of company is he running? 
More questions to follow! Why doesn't the Boss just fire Bartleby?
3. What does the Boss do for a living? What kind of company is he running? 
More questions to follow!

We don’t know anything about Bartleby other than what we see of him in the story because it is open for interpretation. Bartleby is a mystery within itself and could represent the boss himself. Or maybe it can represent the author that wrote the book. It’s actually strength of the story because it contains mystery which is what a good story should contain. It keeps the mystery throughout the whole story and even after the story ended. We as readers don’t know for sure if his past made him who he is today. For all we know maybe he is a ghost. Maybe that’s why he can’t quit the job because his soul will forever be stuck there until he finishes his unfinished business.

The boss doesn't fire Bartleby because throughout the story he feel sympathy for him. Bartleby grows on him and changes the boss himself. That sympathy gives him strength to not fire Bartleby. He even tells him that he could stay at his place because he feels sorry for him staying in the office.

The boss runs a lawyer’s office in Wall Street. The company he runs is a lawyer’s office.

Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street part 8

Symbol
: What do the "dead walls" and Bartleby's "dead wall reveries" represent?
What's the significance of the setting? Why is it a story of "Wall Street"?
Why do Turkey and Nipper have nicknames, but the Boss is never named, and we never learn Bartleby's first name? What's in a name?

The dead walls represent things that close us in. Or make us close in within our selves. For example Bartlebys "dead walls" was working in the post office. This caused him to close down and shun himself from people and also communicating with them with other than "i prefer not to". He doesn’t reveal anything about himself to anyone not even his boss. When he questions Bartleby where he is from, he doesn’t say anything he just says he prefers not to answer that. "Dead wall reveries" represents things that won’t happen in reality. Especially because they are dead wall reveries. For instance, Bartleby probably dreams that one day all the letters would be sent but he knows it won’t be possible. The cause of this dream is the 4 walls that surround him and make him dream because it won’t be possible. It is a story of Wall Street because people in Wall Street seem like they are lifeless. They pour their heart and soul into the stocks and getting money but you don’t see the shine of life in their eyes anymore. Which is basically what Bartleby is, he isn’t "living" anymore. He might as well be dead because his character is basically dead in the story. Turkey and Nipper have nicknames because their nicknames are crucial to the story. Their nickname shows that they are. For example, Turkey is the oldest and turkeys in general run around the place just like Turkey in the story. The boss doesn’t have a nickname because he’s the boss. He’s the head of the whole operation in Wall Street and how more can you say about a boss. His name has to be full of power and not give away much because he doesn’t give much away either. We never learn Bartlebys first name probably because as I’ve stated before he’s practically dead so half his name is who he is. He’s half the person he used to be before he got the job. Personality is what’s in a name. It shows off who you are as a person.

Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street part 7

Ambiguity: 
Exactly why does Bartleby always "prefer not to"? Why can't he make friends, or communicate? What's at the heart of his rebellion? Why doesn't he quit and get a different job?
Why does the Boss have sympathy for Bartleby?
What else in the story seems open to individual readers' interpretation?

Bartleby prefers not to because it doesn’t want to get fired so he says prefer not to in which in his preference, he doesn’t want to do it. He can’t make friends because he "prefers not to" make friends. Hes so closed off and keep to himself so he doesn’t let anyone talk to him. Therefore, he isolates himself from others that he can’t make friends. At the heart of his rebellion there is the boss and his feelings. He feels angry that he never gets an answer from Bartleby other than "I prefer not to". He is trying to show that he will not do it, but that he just simply prefers not to. He doesn’t want to feel what his last job probably made him feels. He doesn’t quit because he feels dead. His soul is basically dead so he just lingers around the job. The boss has sympathy for him because he probably saw some of himself in Bartleby. He was the cause of him changing in the first place. Bartlebys character and his rebellion are open to readers interpretation. Very little is known about his past in the first place. Also what is he really rebelling against? Stereotypes of 9-5 jobs? Working? Most of the story is open to reader’s interpretations. Also ,the other helpers around the lawyer’s office is open for interpretation. For example, what does Turkey, Nippers, and Gingernut have to do with the story? Things like that leave us with more questions than answers.

Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street part 6

Paradox
: Bartleby is stubborn, self-absorbed, rebellious, and insubordinate, yet many readers, and even the narrator, the Boss himself, have a deep sympathy for him. Why?
Others?

They have deep sympathy for him because they feel bad for him knowing his past. They know where he worked before he worked in the dead letters office. They feel bad that he had to live through that and see all those letters not being mailed. Love letters, packages, gifts, everything like that that was meant to be sent, never did. It’s like lost mail and never got to anyone. So they put themselves in Bartlebys position and feel his pain and sympathy for him. They felt his pain of seeing "dead" letters and always being surrounded by things that have a dead end. So we as readers believe that he is that way because of that job.

Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street part 5

Irony
: The Boss doesn't recognize that his own passiveness is as persistent and frustrating as Bartleby's. Or that his genteel, self- interested interest in Bartleby is leading to no good.
Can you think of other ironies?

Ironies in this story also include how he wouldn’t leave the office and his previous job. His previous job, the letters all ended up in one place to him, but they would never leave. Neither would Bartleby when his boss told him he had to leave. He wouldn’t leave or take any money. Even the boss came back to Bartleby. Also, when Bartleby went to jail, it was ironic how the boss kept coming back to visit him like the letters Bartleby would see. They’d all just return to him.

Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street part 4

Meaning (Theme) : 
Does the story leave you thinking anything? Feeling anything? What do you make out of it all?
Passive aggressive people are difficult to accommodate, difficult to ignore.
Passive resistance is a radical form of rebellion. 
Offices, where Americans spend the greater part of their lives, are not democracies.
Have a life outside work! Don't expect your occupation to bear the burden of your existence.
What other ideas does the story suggest to you?

The story leaves me feeling sort of when you walk out of a confusing scary movie. You feel confused of whether you should be scared or just confused. It leaves me with this feeling because Bartleby dies.. Then you realize he worked in a dead letters office. After that it leaves you still with even more questions. Is this why he prefers not to work? Did this previous job just suck the life out of him? Shouldn’t he be happy that he DOESNT work there anymore? Out of this story, it’s that your past has a huge effect on you in the future. Bartleby let his past get to him by his previous job. He saw alot of letters that never got send and as much as he wanted to help there was nothing he could do. After all it was only his job. So then when he worked for the lawyer, it still got to him that he wouldn’t do any work.

Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street part 3

Plot
Exposition:-what background information does the narrator relate that gives us a greater understanding of the events unfolding? Why does the information about Bartleby's previous employment come at the end of the story rather than at the beginning? 
Complication- how does the Boss react when Bartleby repeatedly refuses to perform his duties? How does his reaction intensify? What is the Boss's dilemma?
Climax-Where do you feel the events reach their pinnacle? Where is the conflict most intense, the clash most "explosive"?
 Resolution-What's the outcome of the explosion? 
Epiphany-who has gained insight in this story, Bartleby or the Boss, or anybody?

The background information that the narrator gives us a greater understanding of the events unfolding. He tells us about the other characters and how they are and Bartleby they just don’t give much information until after the story has ended. It comes at the end of the story so we fully grasp why he acts the way he does. It keeps the reader wondering why he acts that way. The boss reaction towards Bartleby is frustration of why he doesn’t do any work. It kind of startles him because he wants him to do work yet he doesn't. It intensifies as he keeps refusing to do anything and as the story continues. The boss dilemma is the fact that he hired him and pays him to do nothing and he is tired of it. The climax of this story is when the lawyer tries to bring Bartleby home with him but he refuses to go with him. So he just leaves him to get arrested and send to jail. The outcome of this story is that Bartleby is left alone to die in jail. The boss gains insight in the end about Bartlebys old job and maybe that’s why he is the way he is.

Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street part 2.

Point of view
: Who tells the story? - the first person narrator, who is flawed but human…He's reliable, we trust him. His actions definitely support what he tells us about himself; especially the part about being a man who likes to take the "easy" way. What else is gained by telling this story from the Boss's perspective? Why not Bartleby's perspective? Why not one of the other clerks?

The boss tells the story in first person. We also gain knowledge of how he reacts to Bartleby and his actions toward him. Also you learn how he feels about this situation. We as readers get to see the difference in how he treats Turkey, Gingernut, and Nippers and how he treats Bartleby. Bartleby isn’t telling the story because then the story would be bland and nothing would really happen. We know Bartleby’s story anyways all the way at the end of the story. The other clerks aren’t telling the story because it’s the Boss that Bartleby is talking to and not them so they don’t experience what he does.

Research

Harriet Jacobs- (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2923.html)

(http://www.h

arrietjacobs.org/)

• She was born into slavery and was sexually abused by her owner.
• She ran away to the North to try and gain freedom.
• Since she was sexually abused by her owner, she had a child by him and then the child was sold later on to slavery.
• After the baby was born , she was still being abused by him.
• When she escaped in 1842, she went to Philadelphia and afterwards, went to New York to become a free woman.

Slave Trade- (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASafrica.htm)

(http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/assessment/essays-intro-07.faces)

• They would bring the slaves in from Africa through ships.
• Trading Slaves was like trading merchandise they would trade a person for a person and also for money.
• The trans-atlantic slave trade demanded more slaves in the Americas.
• Most of the slaves were traded in through Brazil. More than 2 million slaves were traded there.

• 12%-13% of the slaves would not survive the boat ride.

Slavery and Setting in North America.

-(http://www.relig

ioustolerance.org/sla_hist.htm)

• Slaves were bought in from Africa and half of them didnt even survive.
• When they were sick, they would be thrown out the boat to drown.
• They would be allowed to marry other slaves and some of the owners even proposed marriage.
• In America, they would just settle in the south.

Fugitive slave act - (myself and things ive learned from history class)

• The fugitive slave act was where slaves couldnt escape.
• If the slaves tried to escape, they would put wanted posters and rewards to help find the slaves.
  
• It gave owners rights to bring back the slaves if they wanted to.
• Also, if they bring in the slaves to the North, they still didnt treat them right because they were still considered a slave.

Abolitionist Movement -(http://afgen.com/abmovement.html)

( http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart3.html

• The abolitionist movement took place between the 1830s- 1970s.
• This was the act in which they tried to abolish slavery once and for all.
• They wanted to free the slaves from the torture they had to endure for many years.
• Sojouner Truth was an abolisher and was also a freed slave.

Plantation Life - (http://americanabolitionist.liberalarts.iupui.edu/plantation_life.htm)

• Plantation life for slaves was gruesome.
• It was basically never ending for the slaves, they were never done with the work given in the fields.
• Men were put to be relied on in the fields. They would do all the backwrenching work and take care of plantation.
• Women and children worked inside the house cooking and cleaning for the owners.
• Some of the women were raped and children would be whipped if they didnt to their work.

Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street

Characters
Protagonist / Antagonist? - what is the Boss up against in the person of Bartleby? Does Bartleby represent a force beyond himself as an individual?
Major / Minor (Who are the major players in the story? What do we know about them? Are they likable? Sympathetic? Realistic? What's the function of the story's minor characters?)
Dynamic / Static-Who changes? Who stays the same? Is the story about growth or change? 
Round / Flat-Who is the round character? Who are the flat characters

The boss is up against bartleby who "prefers" not to do work around the office. I believe Bartleby represents a force beyond hi

mself as an individual. It seems as tho he represents a wall. Doesnt move , doesnt do much but just stand there.

He keeps repeating that he referes not to and doesnt want to move from his place. Even when the boss tells him to quit he wont. The minor characters are Turkey, Nippers, and Gingernut. They are the other workers that work in the law office with Bartleby. Turkey is the one that is most like the boss. He does everything in order and on a time schedule. Yet at 6, he disappears. Nippers is younger than Turkey but not the youngest of the bunch. He is the type of person that knows what he doesnt want. GingerNut is the youngest at 12 years old.He would get paid a dollar a week and was sent to do small errands such as sweep, clean and such. They are realistic much more than Bartleby. For example, there are people like Bartleby but not all will do what he does because they know they will get fired. Yet Bartleby does it like its a natural thing. The function of the story's minor characters is to make the story flow and give it life because Bartleby doesnt. He just "prefers" not to give life to the story. The boss changes from the beginning of the story until the end. In the beginning he would just let go of what h did but then he started to get mad that he wouldnt do anything. He started getting tired but nicer too. He visited Bartleby in jail when he was sent to jail. On the other hand, Bartleby is a non changing character and also very flat character. He constantly stays like a flat line through out the whole story. This story is mostly about change how one person , even if this person does not say much, can change you. Bartleby changes the boss through out the story through his actions.