Literary Analysis of Bartleby The Scrivener

Literary Analysis of Bartleby The Scrivener
Melville’s use of satirical method in Bartleby The Scrivener was meant to amuse the readers as well as make fun of the Transcendentalist views and Thoreau by having Bartleby represent the Transcendentalist views and Thoreau. Melville reveals his sarcasm towards Thoreau and Transcendentalist views when Bartleby begins to refuse to do what the narrator asks him to do by saying “I would prefer not to” (Melville 12). Melville seems to be paralleling an instance where Thoreau refused to pay his taxes and was put in jail for not paying them because he did not want to be forced to be a member of a society that he does not want to be a part of. Melville seems to be stating Thoreau can not withdraw completely from society, because even he was depending on people by building his cabin on other’s land. Melville also makes fun of Thoreau’s love of nature in this statement, “Bartleby remained standing at his window in one of his profoundest dead-wall reveries” (Melville 31). Thoreau would sometimes just stare at nature, and Melville seems to be making fun of him by having Bartleby stare out the window at a brick wall. Melville seems to be stating that just staring at nature will not get you anywhere because it will not help you live or make any money. Melville uses satirical method in Bartleby The Scrivener to make fun of Transcendentalist views and Thoreau.