Why he shuts down further and eventually refuses to write is open to interpretation, but it is possible it has something to do with his former job at the Dead Letter Office-perhaps Bartleby felt no more satisfaction (and no more connection) at the creation of language than he did in its destruction. In that way, Dead Letters serve as a symbol for disconnection, and for the failure of language to properly communicate.Īlthough Dead Letters never appear as a part of Bartleby’s arc in the story, their inclusion at the end of the story serves to possibly illuminate Bartleby’s initial motivation to passively resist any part of his job other than writing-after years of destroying communication and language, perhaps he craved to partake in the creation of language. Dead Letters – letters which for some reason or other can not be delivered to their intended destination– are a form of failed communication, of someone trying to reach out and connect to another person through language and failing to find that connection. At the story’s end, The Lawyer informs the reader that he has heard rumors that Bartleby worked for many years at the Dead Letter Office. Bartleby, the Scrivener Herman Melville 3.93 59,302 ratings4,883 reviews 'Bartleby, the Scrivener is a short story by the American writer Herman Melville, first serialized anonymously in two parts in the November and December 1853 issues of Putnams Magazine, and reprinted with minor textual alterations in his The Piazza Tales in 1856.
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