Isolation and Society in Bartleby, the Scrivener Essay -- Bartleby Scr

Isolation and Society in Bartleby, the Scrivener Herman Melvilles Bartleby is a tale of isolation and alienation. In his story, participation is primarily to blame for the creation and demise of Bartleby. Throughout the story, the characters -- Bartleby in particular -- are isolated from each other or from society. The foresters office, which can be taken as a microcosm of society, was teeming with walls to separate the head ranger from his employees and to separate the employees from one another. There was one large crushed-glass wall which separated the lawyer from his sycophants (although he was still able to see their shadows due to the nature of crushed glass). The other workers put up a folding green screen to hide Bartleby because of his fearsome appearance, who was also alienated from the rest of the workers. The Ranger and his employees were also isolated from the outside world their window faced a wall of trees ten feet away, with a sewer-like cha sm ...