My favorite paragraph from Bartleby, the Scrivener was the paragraph that described the office, or chambers as the narrator called it. This paragraph caught my attention, because the descriptive language used painted a picture in my head of where majority of the story about Bartleby takes place.
Most of the story takes place in the office of a lawyer. The office is located on Wall-street in New York City, New York. The lawyer's office is described to be very plain and without any bells or whistles inside. The lawyer describes his office as being "rather tame" and "deficient in what landscape painters call "life" (297). What he means by this is his office lacks any sort of life or excitement. It made up of white walls and has a skylight in the ceiling that offers light from the top of the building to the bottom floor.
What is even more impressive than the lack luster interior is the lack of views the lawyer's office has of Wall-street or New York City. His office is built right up against other buildings, he mentioned his neighbors being "within ten feet of my window panes" (297). Irony is used to describe the wall that he is able to see through his windows. He said, "in that direction my windows commanded an unobstructed view of a lofty brick wall, black by age and everlasting shade" (297). While it may seem that the narrator is cracking a joke about the wall, he is actually serious and expresses his "passion" for the wall when by saying, "which wall required no spy-glass to bring out its lurking beauties" (297). While this wall may seem like just an uninteresting brick wall, the lawyer has found the wall to be beautiful and an important characteristic of his office space.
I can picture this scene in my head, the office is wedged between two tall buildings and the windows that run down the sides of the buildings offer nothing but views of the brick walls that make up their neighbors. Being that the story takes place on Wall-street, the buildings are built on top of each other and crammed together. I think this paragraph is most often overlooked and is important because it sets the tone for most of the story.
-Patrick
Bartleby, the Scrivener- The Norton Anthology World Literature, Volume E, Page 293-325
I very rarely enjoy reading these posts before commenting, but your thoughts on the reading were very interesting as well said so I loved every moment of it. I would read 6 more pages on your thoughts on this work if I could. I thought your ideas on how it is an over looked section about the brick wall to be very honest.You also mentioned a skylight? I wonder if that might be a metaphor of some sort... you did say it reached from the sky to the bottom floors? was it a glass floor and ceiling situation?
ReplyDeleteHi patrick
ReplyDeleteI really like how you gave a great summary in the begin for people who might have not read this passage like me who has not read Bartleby, the Scrivener. I really like how in depth you went with the character and how he might have felt. You also did a great job of explaining what the author wanted to portray.