Journal for Herrman Melville

Tanya Barragan
Scott Lankford
English 48A
Herman Melville
10/4/11

Herman Melville is an interesting writer. From what is said about him in his introduction, he went back and forth with his writing and when he wasn’t satisfied he would rip up his work. But the work that was published and reading from “Bartleby, the Scrivener” I found his work pretty good. One of the quotes that stood out to me from “Bartleby, the Scrivener” was, “Revolving all these things, and coupling them with the recently discovered  fact that he made my office his constant abiding place and not forgetful of his morbid moodiness: revolving all these things, a prudential feeling began to steal over me” (2375).

There are different thoughts and ideas from authors on how they feel about “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville. Some will say that they did not like it, or that maybe that its boring but some will say that they like it like me and find it good work. Ben Kafka, in Lapham’s Quarterly, says this, “smartest inquiries into the psychopathology of paperwork” and forms part of Kafka’s own entertaining inquiry into diverse aspects of office work: Why, he wonders, is there no Norton Anthology of Paperwork?” http://blog.loa.org/2011/04/herman-melvilles-bartleby-scrivener.html But he also says that  there is a problem in the story and quotes this, “The problem of the story, Kafka writes, “is that Bartleby turns out to be no more willing to work than the mettlesome poet.” One day he simply refuses to copy. His mild “I would prefer not to,” the most memorable line in the story, could perhaps be considered the stifled rallying cry of legions of paperworkers ever since”.

From what is said in the quote that I chose, is that Bartleby seemed to be a man who did things his way and would talk back to his boss. But even with all this there is still something interesting about him that draws people closer to him. There was something that made you want to know more about and learn about him. The quote by Ben Kafka explains that he is stubborn and says he wont copy and that shows something; besides his moodiness. He is someone who will say no… and you may not like that but some may find that different and either fire him or want to write about him and find things out about him.

I think that quote was a striking because I couldn’t understand how someone could say no to something that needed to be done and how someone could still find this person intriguing. What was about Bartleby that someone could like? But there had to be something, if it grabbed someone in. Something was seen in him that made you want to know more about him because of his attitude or personality and it just kept me wanting to read on to find out.