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Bartleby The Scrivener Essay

1607 Words7 Pages

In 1853 the short story Bartleby the Scrivener was published in an American magazine. The short story by Herman Melville deals with the topic of resistance and refusal in a working and maybe capitalistic society. This depends on the interpretation of the short story. In the summer of 2011 another resistance movement which was also set on Wall Street was founded. The movement Occupy Wall Street criticized the forces and the power which the Banks and the stock market and the members demanded a new financial policy since the consequences of the financial crisis of 2008 were still visible. This essay will compare the story and the character of Bartleby and the actions that took place during the Occupy Wall Street movement. The main focus will …show more content…

Then there will be a description of the development, the reasons and the demands of the Occupy Wall street movement.
The story of Bartleby is told from a first person narrator. The narrator takes place in the action himself. It is a lawyer who has his offices at Wall Street. He has three Scriveners already, but since they all have their weaknesses he needs to hire another one. He hires a man called Bartleby, who starts working immediately. He works fast and precise and the lawyer is stunned by his working progress. One day when he asks Bartleby to come to his office to examine some papers he refuses with the words: “I would prefer not to”. The lawyer is confused, but does not talk about this incident. Bartleby however, starts to refuse more and more demands by the lawyer. He always uses the phrase “I would prefer not to”. The lawyer does not know what to do with Bartleby, but he doesn’t seem to feel like forcing Bartleby to do the things he asks. The lawyer realizes that Bartleby seems to be living in his …show more content…

about Bartleby and the Occupy Wall Street one has to be reminded that the one thing is a short story made up by Hermann Melville and the other thing is an event which took place in reality. However it might be seen that when comparing these two stories there is something important. point to think about which way to resist is the best one. This is a discussion which still found among political activists. Should they be passive and boycott things which they do not like or should they be active and protest. To conclude this short essay it has to be said that this topic is a The comparison showed in my personal opinion that capitalism seems always to be seen as a thing which is connected to failure. Whether it is because there are poorer and richer people or because it seems difficult to resist and protest against capitalism. The fact that the topic of resistance in a capitalist system has always been a topic is shown in these two stories which have a time span of more than 150 years between each other. This comparison also might be a

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