Bartleby the Scrivener: Free Will, Despair, and Calvinism
This paper analyzes Herman Melville's 1853 short story "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street," situating it within the context of Melville's declining literary reputation and his ongoing critique of Calvinist determinism in New England society. Following a detailed plot summary, the analysis argues that Bartleby's repeated assertion—"I would prefer not to"—represents a despairing rejection of a predestinarian worldview in which individual free will is rendered meaningless. The paper examines major characters, including the unnamed narrator, Turkey, Nippers, and Bartleby himself, before exploring key themes: free will, materialism, charity, spirituality, determinism, and despair. Connections to Matthew Arnold's Empedocles on Etna and to the symbolic significance of the Dead Letter Office are also discussed.
- Introduction: Melville's context and story's Calvinist critique
- Summary: Detailed plot from Bartleby's arrival to death
- Analysis: Despair, free will, and Calvinist determinism
- Characters: Profiles of narrator, Bartleby, and clerks
- Themes: Free will, materialism, charity, despair explored
- Conclusion: Enduring relevance of Melville's spiritual questions
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper grounds literary analysis in historical and theological context, linking Melville's personal frustrations with Calvinist determinism to Bartleby's passive resistance, giving the interpretation clear intellectual stakes.
- The summary section is unusually detailed and purposeful: rather than merely recounting plot, it highlights psychologically and thematically significant moments that the analysis section then builds upon.
- The thematic section is well-organized into discrete subsections, each treating a single concept—free will, materialism, charity, spirituality, despair—allowing the reader to trace the story's moral architecture efficiently.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of secondary scholarship to frame and deepen primary-text analysis. By citing Tally Jr. (2009) on Bartleby's "darkness" and Stempel and Stillians (1972) on the parallel with Arnold's Empedocles on Etna, the writer situates the story within a broader critical conversation rather than relying solely on personal reading. This shows how to integrate scholarly sources as interpretive lenses without allowing them to overwhelm original argument.
Structure breakdown
The paper follows a clear five-part structure: introduction (biographical and historical context), summary (detailed plot with thematic signposting), analysis (focused argument on determinism and despair), characters (brief profiles of each major figure), and themes (subsection-by-subsection treatment of the story's central ideas), closing with a short conclusion. This scaffolded format is well-suited to a literary analysis essay at the undergraduate level and gives each component a distinct function.
Introduction
Herman Melville published "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" in 1853. It marked the beginning of his decline as a "respected" American writer. His previous novel, Pierre; or, The Ambiguities, had already precipitated the decline of his literary reputation — a decline first initiated by Moby-Dick, published in 1851. Melville's frustration with his reading public (and with the publishing houses that deemed his style and subjects too odd and too metaphysical) boiled over in Pierre. "Bartleby" was an attempt to examine the preoccupations of Melville's own mind in a more light-hearted, semi-satirical manner, while still retaining the robust indignation he felt most keenly towards the limitations of the Calvinist doctrines that had shaped New England society. Melville had thoroughly hunted down and dismantled these doctrines in Moby-Dick. "Bartleby" was an exercise in addressing them as manifested in the rise of the world of finance — and in the question of the human spirit in a society totally consumed by legalities, materialistic conquest, and determinism.
References
Melville, H. (1853). Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street.
Stempel, D., & Stillians, B. M. (1972). Bartleby the Scrivener: A parable of pessimism. Nineteenth-Century Fiction, 27(3), 268–282.
Tally Jr., R. T. (2009). Bartleby, the Scrivener. In Bloom's Literary Themes: Alienation. InfoBase Publishing.
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