Mariela Hristova ENG101h 18 March 2010 Bartleby the perfect example of civil disobedience

In both Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville and Civil Disobedience by Thoreau the main characters are expressing their disapproval with the administrative mechanisms and the established norms in society. Thoreaus Civil Disobedience presents his view of the American government as corrupted and perverted institution where the majority rules unjustly. He outlines how people should interact with such a government, thus defining the term civil disobedience. Thoreau addresses people to act reasonably with their conscience and do what is right, even if they break a law. Ashamed and disgusted by the Mexican-American war, he urges people to break their relationship with the government when they disagree with its policy and actions. He himself goes to jail for not paying his taxes, a protest against the unfair policy of his government toward slaves. Bartleby, on the other hand, is expected to fulfill all the duties of a scrivener without a second thought. Instead of participating in the execution of his responsibilities, Bartleby constantly replies Id prefer not to thus refusing to do his job properly. Wall Streets environment, in which Bartleby exists, is sterile and cheerless and is deficient in what landscape painters call life (5). In such an environment, the scriveners work as machines, through their bodies (1.5) and serve as pieces of equipment that operate according to expectations. In refusing to be a part of this practice, Bartleby goes against the common usage and common sense (38). In his work, Thoreau describes civil disobedience as protecting your beliefs by standing against the government and majority. He says that men should always do what is right even if

this causes them their life or freedom. Nevertheless his only real act of resistance is the one night he spends in jail for not paid taxes. Therefore Bartleby is better example of civil disobedience because he refuses to comply with any established rules in the society and dies in jail for his beliefs. In doing so Bartleby represents Thoreaus view that the majoritys rules are not always right and the individual has the right to rebel against injustice thus perfectly fitting in the concept of civil disobedience. At first, Bartlebys behavior may be considered as an expression of mental sickness and may remain this way till the end of the story. The information that is given there by the author, Bartleby had been a subordinate clerk in the Dead Letter Office at Washington, from which he had been suddenly removed by a change in the administration (250), is of great importance to understanding Bartleby. According to this information, Bartleby was fully with his mind and responsibly did his job. If he was insane he would not have been hired as a worker there or later as a scrivener. This in addition to the fact that his dismissal did not depend on him provokes the reader to rethink Bartlebys actions and the reasons behind them. What if Bartleby liked his previous job and was disappointed by the bureaucratic mechanism that led to his removal? If so, why would he search for a job on Wall Street where bureaucracy is highly expressed and peoples decisions can literary shut factories, thus causing workers to loose their jobs? Bartlebys choice to work there shows that he considers Wall Street the most convenient place to express his dissatisfaction with administrative procedures. After all, people on Wall Street are known to be ambitious and materialistic. They execute everything they are told with high precision and in timely manner, just like robots without conscience. Here any steps done outside the norms are thought to be eccentricity. So when Bartleby disobeyed the direct orders of his boss, the narrator thinks that this is another peculiar whim of one of his employees. On the contrary, Bartleby continues to resist everything that he is asked to do thereby breaking the neatly kept order in the office. These

actions provoke his colleagues to withdraw from him and enable Bartleby get more absorbed in his own world. Throughout the story Bartleby, is presented as a man of singularly sedate (16) and leanly composed (25) character, oblivious to everything but his own peculiar business (50). Whenever asked about his duties or his past Bartleby uses the same answer for all questions remaining unreachable for the others around him. According to Thoreau we should not devote ourselves to society or any established order if we do not find them right. He says that we should not give our support to such society and this is what Bartleby does. By rejecting to execute all of his duties Bartleby opposes the common practice at the office maintained by the society. In this way he expresses his dissatisfaction of the administrative mechanisms and thereby his civil disobedience. According to Thoreau, a man opposing the government should possess very small amount of things, just what he needs for living. He says, You must live within yourself, and depend upon yourself always tucked up and ready for a start, and not have many affairs. (2.11) We dont know how have Bartleby lived before his arrival at Wall Street but the narrator describes that Bartleby must have ate, dressed, and slept in my office, and that too without plate, mirror, or a bed (88) thus reveling his poverty and loneliness. This indicates that Bartleby is deeply absorbed in himself and does not want to interact in any way with the society around him. The lack of relations between Bartleby and the people in the office underlines his disapproval of the societys norms. In refusing to comply with the natural expectancy of his boss Bartleby refuses to be a part of the bureaucratic machine that drags people through their work and life. He rejects to be part of a society that determines your actions and leads you like a puppet. Bartlebys rejection of society leads him to his death at the end of the story. In this manner Bartleby expresses his civil disobedience.