Bartleby Thesis

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Paul Dassau English Honors Professor Ascher 15 March 2011 Bartleby In Bartleby the Scrivener, Bartleby refuses to become another empty soul bolt in the system that we all call life. Birth is a beautiful thing as it leads to endless opportunities to become or do anything the world has to offer. People all across the world grow up dreaming of doing something extraordinary with their life but sadly enough for most people reality sets in and priorities change. There is no doubt that there is an unseen system that the vast majority of us fall into with only an small percentage of lucky ones such as Bartleby who are able to avoid the agonizing fall into commonness. No one knows about this fall into commonness better than the narrator (lawyer).…show more content…
Bartleby, although seeming simple actually very carefully speaks this phrase. Bartleby in no way completely refuses to do the work presented to him but given the choice of doing it or not he “prefers” not to. If Bartleby were to simply accept the work given to him then he would be another victim to the system but by preferring to not accept the work he is expressing his right to make choices. Bartleby’s ability to make his own choices makes him an outcast of the system, as the system is what usually makes choices for the people and not the other way around. As people we are expected to abide by the choices given to us by the system and Bartleby’s refusal to do so is what baffles the…show more content…
Bartleby understood what the world had offer and he was not content with doing the same thing day in and day out. Bartleby was not “essentially a safe man” and he did not want to live y the safe values of the system. Like a child Bartleby still had dreams and still had choices to make in life. The narrator could not grasp this, as he could not even put himself out there enough to take on a risky case. Bartleby was not just another bolt in the
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