Bartleby The Scrivener: A Marxist Perspective
...Engels. In short, Marxism suggests that history advances only by the means of class struggle. With this philosophy, Marx proclaimed that in capitalist societies, only a small group of the working class would be needed to spark revolutionary enthusiasm that would overthrow capitalism. Karl Marx also believed this revolution would take place across Europe, if not the entire world. For example, in the Communist Manifesto, Marx writes “A specter is haunting Europe – the specter of communism,” and in a few words ends the novel with, “Workers of All Countries, Unite!” in spite of his promised revolution. Marx’s foreseen revolution would be followed by a brief period of proletarian (working class) dictatorship, which would establish a socialist state, and put in place the foundations of a communist society. Eventually, the class struggles would vanish, along with the state, and people would live in prosperity and harmony. “Bartleby the Scrivener” begins with the narrator, an elderly lawyer and an “eminently safe” (Melville, 1) one, bragging about his high stature in society. The details portraying the narrator can easily show how the narrator thrives on himself in the story, which in some way compares to Marxism. For example, by being a respectable figure of high class society the lawyer sees himself to be superior over the middle class characters that he employs. The lawyer can now properly enlighten his worthy audience by sharing the story of Bartleby, the strangest man that he has ever known, “Bartleby was one of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable” (1). In the beginning of the story, the narrator describes his two presently employed copyists, Turkey and Nippers. Herman Melville provides certain characteristics in the story that create a sense of balance among the two men working for the lawyer. In some instances balance could be viewed as a theme relating to Marx’s theory of communism, and how the government should create social equality amongst all people. Again, Melville presents a similarity of balance between Bartleby and the lawyer during the story. It’s not until the lawyer finds out that Bartleby lives at the office, does he feel pity and revulsion for Bartleby. The intriguing equality in the story is that Bartleby imposes a strange feeling of sympathy in his employer, and the lawyer cannot do anything to harm this forlorn man who has served him so efficiently. Although, the fact remains that the narrator/lawyer is still dominant in the workplace. The lawyer’s actions towards Bartleby would contradict with the views of a Marxist, because of the fact that the lawyer presents Bartleby with a place to live, but pretends Bartleby isn’t present around the office when he is, and not working. Moving on, the American author, Herman Melville, who is best known for his novel “Moby Dick,” lived during similar times as Karl Marx, and witnessed the social and political changes that occurred around the world at the time. One comparison between Karl Marx and Herman Melville is that their most recognized work evolved with the help from another individual. For Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels helped him write the “Communist Manifesto,” and for Herman Melville it was his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne, to whom he dedicated his novel “Moby Dick.” It is possible that by living during similar time periods, that Melville was influenced to write about certain issues between current day society and the government through the narration and characters present in his stories. To prove this, some of the social inequalities that Karl Marx criticized are illustrated in the story “Bartleby the Scrivener.” For example, throughout the story Bartleby’s co-workers treat him with a low level of respect that corresponds with the beliefs of Karl Marx. In how people ...