comparing goodman brown and bartleby the scrivener
...n man. Melville states, “I can see the figure now-pallidly neat, pitiably respectable, incurably forlorn! It was Bartleby,” (139). Bartleby looks as if he has just lost a fight; a fight with society. Because of a change in administration, poor Bartleby has lost his job in Washington and comes to the law office looking for a new one. See Bartleby had a lonely job which he worked from a basement. He rarely dealt with people in person, in fact, the only people he dealt with were in dead letters. Letters that had reached their end; letters that had no purpose. After meeting his fate and getting laid off, Bartleby struggles with everyday life. Bartleby can not find any reasons to go on living without his job. Luckily Bartleby found a new job and a new employer as a scrivener. A typical day for Bartleby at his new occupation includes just as much human contact as the last. Bartleby becomes the first person at work and the last to leave. He copies more than any of the other scriveners, but when his boss asks him to help read over the copies, he gently says “I would prefer not to.” See Bartleby never wishes to communicate with others as a result of his last job; an injury brought on by society. The employer of Bartleby notices his lack of communication and decides to put up a green wall on top of the desk of Bartleby; only casting Bartleby further away from society. So time goes by and still, still Bartleby will not check his own work with others. He is caught, caught again in a cell that is his work. He hardly takes breaks to eat or even go to the restroom; all he does is copy. For a long time this is the case, until Bartleby decides he does not want to copy any more documents. Forced with a decision to make, his employer ends up giving Bartleby a certain amount of time in which he has to pack up and leave his office. When confronted with this proposal, Bartleby does not know how to act and is simply to hurt to act at all. All he wishes to do is stay where he is at until he is dead. He had found that there is not much purpose to his or the life of any other, but especially his own. Society had given up on him, so Bartleby gave up on society. The fact that Bartleby would not leave the office becomes a problem for the new owner, therefore they send for the cops to come pick him up. In jail, despite the efforts of his past employer, Bartleby still would not eat. Bartleby ends up dying out in front of a wall gazing out upon freedom. Bartleby dies a victim of society. “Young Goodman Brown,” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a battle between Mister Brown and society as well as being a fight inside of Goodman himself. The story takes place in the city of Salem which is known for its tales of witches. One day Goodman Brown decides he must take a trip deep into the forest. Wha...