Day 3

Day 3 Blog
Freedom to Assert Oneself; Non-conformity
In Melville’s work, “Bartleby the Scrivener”, the main character portrays non-conformity. To begin the short story, the narrator a lawyer who works on Wall Street and is a “ rather elderly man”, gives background information on “myself, my employees, my business, my chambers, and general surroundings.” The narrator has three men currently working for him: Turkey, Nippers, and Ginger Nut. Turkey is a short man “somewhere not far from sixty”. He is well tempered in the morning, and ill-tempered in the afternoon. This suggests that he is an alcoholic because he returns like this every day after lunch. On the other hand, Nippers, who is not a morning person, is ill tempered in the morning, and well-tempered in the afternoon. So both men balanced out the business. Nippers was known for “receiving visits from certain ambiguous-looking fellows in seedy coats, whom he called his clients.” It was evident that he ran a business on the side of some sort. Nippers did not wear the best clothes; “His clothes were apt to look oil and smell of eating-houses. He wore pantaloons very loose and baggy in the summer.” Finally, the third employee of the lawyer office was Ginger Nut. Ginger Nut was “twelve years old.” He was employed “at the rate of one dollar a week” and he works in the office “as a student at law, errand boy, and cleaner and sweeper.” He was often sent on errands by Turkey and Nippers to get ginger nuts. However, the narrator needed one more scrivener or copyists, so he put an ad in the paper. A man by the name of Bartleby responded, and he was hired. The first couple of days “Bartleby did an extraordinary quantity of writing” and was excelling at the firm. However, on the “third day” everything took a turn for the worst. Bartleby refused to write because he would “prefer not to.” This went on for a while, and the lawyer simply ignored him in hopes of Bartleby returning to work one day. However, Bartleby never wanted to write or speak of the reason why he wanted to write. He just responded that he “would prefer not to.” One Sunday, the narrator discovered because of his “restless curiosity” that Bartleby was in fact living in his small headquarters in the narrator’s office. The narrator surprisingly kept his cool by all of this, but soon after, Bartleby was asked to leave. Bartleby simply said that he “would prefer not to.” The narrator could do nothing to change Bartleby’s mind, and in a way, the narrator felt bad for Bartleby and told him he would help him financially. In the end, the narrator had to end up moving to a new office. Bartleby stayed in his old office and was a bother to the new tenant. The new tenant had him thrown in jail. In jail, Bartleby would not eat. A few days later, he died. The narrator discovered after Bartleby died that he “had been a subordinate clerk in the Dead Letter Office at Washington.” Once the narrator found out this news he cried out, “Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!.”
Some questions that I have about this piece are who was the man Adam that was mentioned in the story? Was this the narrator’s name or was it somebody symbolic? Also, why did Bartleby act the way he did? I know it was not because of pure laziness. Was it because of his previous job? I realize that what he did at the post office was pretty tough. He was responsible for reading letters sent to dead people and disposing of them. I imagine that is difficult knowing that you hold all the words that people want sent to the dead.
Non-conformity is present in this story in Bartleby. Bartleby is different from the rest of the crowd. He refuses to do work because he simple “prefers not to.” He simply just sits and stares out the window into a brick wall, and his diet is abnormal. All that he eats are ginger nuts.. I wouldn’t say that Bartleby celebrates his non-conformity in the same way as Lady Gaga, however, he does make it known. He is not rude about it; it is simply just the way he is. He does what he wants with no sign of “uneasiness, anger, impatience or impertinence in his manner.” Bartleby was lucky to have such an understanding and patient person dealing with him (narrator). If it were not for the narrator, I do not know how many other people would have accepted his different ways of doing work when he prefers to. Because of an understanding boss, Bartleby exposing his different side was not that difficult of an endeavor. It is evident that there are pitfalls of non-conformity. Many people do not accept people who are different and “beat to their own drum.” Bartleby was put in jail by the second tenant of the building where he died. His new boss would not have for his unique ways. He was unwilling to get to know Bartleby and understand him. Everyone is different, and we all work differently.
Bartleby and his situation remind me of my brother. He reminds me of my younger brother, Joey, because Joey simply refuses to do work. When asked, he tells my parents no. I think this is terrible. However, my brother beats to his own drum. Eventually the work gets done, just not when he is asked to.
In Ginsberg’s, “Sunflower Sutra”, the poem is about two men who are not ready to conform to what society has become. They sit “down under the huge shade of a Southern Pacific locomotive”, and his friend Jack is sitting on “a bused rusty iron pole.” Both seem sad and want to “cry.” They reminisce on the beauty of the land now gone because of the industry. There are “no fish in that stream, no hermit in those mounts.” One then notices a “Sunflower.” This sunflower seems out of place in a place built up by industry. He thinks of Harlem, all the buildings built there. The beauty of the town is gone, and the sunflower turns “gray.” The two men think about what our country has become. The beautiful lands have been destroyed. In the end, the narrator “grabbed up the skeleton thick sunflower and stuck it at my side.” I have one question from this poem. Why does the narrator keep repeating the word locomotive? The Sunflower portrays non-conformity because it holds all this beauty, and we look at what the world has become: bland, many buildings, metal in nature and so on. It is just sitting in a place where it does not belong being beautiful. It is growing out in the open surrounded by ugliness. I believe that this sunflower is celebrating its non-conformity. I feel as if it is mocking all the gray, undesired buildings around it by being the only sunflower to grow out of place. Yes, it is a difficult endeavor, and there are benefits. People can admire the beauty of this sunflower and all the things that this land once was. However, the pitfalls are that how can this one sunflower change the beauty that this land once was. Everyone says that one person can make a difference, but how can this one sunflower make a difference and bring back all the beauty.