Bartleby: a Thin Line Between Rebel-Hero & Quitter-Loser

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James Cole April 21, 2012 English 1B Prof. Kleinman A Thin Line between Rebel-Hero & Quitter-Loser After reading Herman Melville’s story “Bartleby, the Scrivener”, there are many questions to ask and ponder. Why does the narrator tolerate Bartleby’s behavior? Do Turkey and Nippers add importance to the story? What does that narrator learn at the end of the story? The question that proved to be the most intriguing was coming to the conclusion of whether Bartleby was rebel-hero or a quitter-loser. Because of the complexity of the story, an answer is never provided, which leaves the reader to make the decision. But the decision is hard to make considering that there is sufficient evidence to support the ideas that Bartleby is both a hero and a quitter, which means that the best way to go about this question is to make the statement that Bartleby lies between being a hero and a loser. In his overview of “Bartleby, the Scrivener”, Steven Goldleaf believes that “by asking and not answering this question, he [Melville] offers a puzzling story, unusually open to interpretation.” In order to make a sound judgment on whether Bartleby is a rebel-hero, one must understand what that exactly entails. Webster’s dictionary defines the term hero as “a mythical or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability; a person admired for his/her achievements and noble qualities; one who shows great courage.” The same dictionary also defines the term rebel as “opposing or taking arms against a government or ruler.” After taking both of those definitions into consideration, it is not hard to give the rebel-hero title to Bartleby. For example, it takes more than a little bit of courage to stand up to the boss of the company and tell him that you prefer not to do the daily work tasks. His greatest strength and/or ability are being able to never

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