Bartleby the Scrivener Essay In Herman Melville s Bartleby the Scrivener, Melville questions the validity of property ownership in terms of dollars and cents. Through the actions of the lawyer and Bartleby, Melville portrays two contrary views concerning the importance of money in society. While the lawyer staunchly believes money is a commodity, assigning all materialistic things a dollar value, Bartleby indirectly implies his belief that money is merely a concept, openly disregarding and opposing its value and significance in society. The lawyer regards money as an asset by which daily life is run and around which society functions. He treats money as a significant aspect of life, deserving much attention and consideration in business affairs. When a very pleasantly remunerative office of Master in Chancery was suddenly abrogated from the lawyer, he found much cause to lose my temper; much more indulge in dangerous indignation.
His anger towards the loss of money exemplifies the importance he places on materialistic commodities and hints at his financial approach towards life. Although the lawyer deems this affair as by the way, he nevertheless implies this loss of profit as an upsetting experience caused by a — premature act. His superficial casualness towards the loss heightens his inner feelings of outrage and shows the significance of money in his eyes. The lawyer s financial and materialistic approach towards life is extended when he demands of Bartleby, What earthly right have you to stay here? Do you pay any rent taxes? Or is this property yours? This outburst yet again illustrates the emphasis the lawyer places on money. He treats property as a commodity, harboring the belief that money guarantees the sole right to ownership of land. This conviction supports his overlying belief that society functions around money and secures rights to those who possess money.
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Furthermore, the lawyer s conviction that money guarantees power and deserves consideration in all matters leads him to treat all his affairs from a monetary point of view. He offers charity to Bartleby in the form of money, telling him, I owe you twelve dollars here are thirty-two; the odd twenty are yours. The lawyer disregards the fact that Bartleby places no importance on physical charity, even becoming thunderstruck, when he realizes Bartleby had not even touched that money yet. This reaction demonstrates the lawyer s firm reliance on money as an answer to problems, and extends his financial way of thinking. He refuses to recognize any disregard of money, choosing to further dwell within the confines of his own gentlemanly thinking. Bartleby, unlike the lawyer, regards money as a mere concept, thinking it of little importance and disregarding its value in society.
Bartleby does not acknowledge the potential value of money, choosing not to assign a dollar value to anything materialistic. While the rest of Wall Street hustles around its financial core, Bartleby s poverty is great, and his very existence builds around his poverty. The lawyer realizes that Bartleby must have ate, dressed, and slept in my office without the lawyer s consent or knowledge. Bartleby s behavior supports his belief that property does not have a price, nor does it belong to any one law-abiding, tax-paying citizen. Property, like all other materialistic things in Bartleby s eyes, holds no monetary value, thus serving as a free element belonging to all. Bartleby s disregard for money further accounts for his refusal to receive money.
When the lawyer gives him his salary, Bartleby made no motion and chooses not to touch it. His action supports his notion that money is a concept, having little worth and amounting to nothing in a worldly sense. He so firmly opposes money as a commodity and as a catalyst of property ownership that he continues exercising his belief even after his actions violate the proprieties of the day. Bartleby persists in occupying the entry after being dismissed from the office and refuses to quit the premises after the lawyer himself changes offices. Bartleby s physical persistence and firmness in his actions are tangible methods of demonstrating his inner staunchness and determination and his earnest belief in his non-materialistic ethics.
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His disregard towards monetary practices leads him to behave in a manner exemplifying his beliefs. In Melville s Bartleby the Scrivener, the lawyer harbors the notion that money is a significant and essential aspect of society, while Bartleby openly disregards any importance pertaining to money, casting it aside as an unnecessary concept. Bartleby s physical behavior suits his indifferent view of money while the lawyer s pocketbook-based actions accompany his Wall Street ethic. Both men s ethics are illustrated through their actions, which portray both their beliefs and their methods of thinking..
