Bartleby, The Scrivener...

A lot can be said about Melville's short story, Bartleby the Scrivener. For instance, one could rant on and on about the sadness the Bartleby cast over the entire story, or how the narrator's ill-tempered employees, Turkey and Nippers, made no sense, but I choose to see it in a different light. Yes, the story possessed a sense of malancholy, but I also found it humorous, and those were my favorite parts.

Call me weird (most people do anyway), but I liked the story due to the fact that in a way there were many bits of comedic relief scattered about the story. Prima facie, this isn't easily recognized. I loved Bartleby's consitensy. How he kept repeating, no matter what was asked of him, the "[He'd] prefer not to..." This in an of itself made me laugh. The narrator tried a myriad of different approaches to get some sort of reaction out of Bartleby, but to no avail. And the other employees were full of comedy, especially during Nippers during the morning and Turkey in the afternoon, when their temperments were at the worst. But to add the icing on the cake of the hidden humor, was when the narrator decided that since he could not get Bartleby to leave his offices, he would relocate himself. Lol, that was just hysterical. Am I allowed to say lol? Whatever, it's my blog...

Anyway, before I digress any furthur, let me say that I think this was an overall interesting story. It allowed me to step into a different world, into a different mind, and that is what I love most about reading. However, I do believe that if the story was more up to date, it would have been much easier to follow and understand. Maybe if someone had re-written the piece. And then in that case, a comparison could have been done. But this does not diminish the fact that I did like the story...