Midweek Review
Passive Resistance in an Era of Nihilism
“The text is a living tissue of its manifold contexts: the mind that composed it, the language that articulated it, the literature that preceded it, the social moment that conditioned it, the generations that had put their mark on it, and the mind that received it”.
– Morris Dickstein, Literary critic.
By Dr. Siri Galhenage
Psychiatrist [retired]
[sirigalhenage@gmail.com]
Literature is about humanity. A good piece of literary art is a living entity awaiting interaction with the reader. The reader who engages in a meaningful interaction with the text is benefited by enhancing their understanding of the human condition.
The discipline of psychiatry demands the understanding of the human condition in its entirety. At a formal gathering of a group of my colleagues, young and old, who meet regularly to discuss matters regarding Humanities [History, Philosophy and Ethics] relating to Psychiatry, an extraordinary piece of literature was presented for analysis. The literary piece is ‘Bartleby, the Scrivener – A Story of Wall Street’ [1856] – one of the most noted of American short stories, written by Herman Melville, renowned for his Magnus Opus, ‘Moby Dick’. The aim of the meeting was to make a behavioural analysis of its protagonist, Bartleby, whose character is brilliantly portrayed by the author within the short space of the narrative. [The short story could be read in Piazza Tales, a volume of six stories by Herman Melville, on YouTube or downloaded as an e-book]
THE PLOT
The setting is a small law firm in Wall Street, New York. The narrator is an unnamed elderly lawyer, the proprietor of the firm. He manages a team of two scriveners [copyists] – ‘Turkey’ and ‘Nippers’ – allocated with the task of copying legal documents; and ‘Ginger Nut’, the office boy providing a supportive role. The two scriveners, despite their disparities in age and behaviour patterns, are complementary in their roles. Turkey is elderly, and is more functional in the mornings than in the afternoons. Nippers, is young, and is irritable in the mornings but more organised in the afternoons.
Due to an increase in workload, the lawyer employs Bartleby as an additional scrivener. A quiet young man, Bartleby is extremely diligent in his single task of copying legal documents. But, to the lawyer’s dismay, when Bartleby is requested to do anything other than his allocated task, he replies, ‘I would prefer not to’ – a response he repeatedly and stubbornly makes, resulting in him being marginalised by the rest of the team. He begins to live in the office, with a limited intake of food barely sufficient to sustain him. He ‘would prefer not to’ accept the offer of accommodation in the lawyer’s own home. Bewildered, the lawyer moves the office to another building! As Bartleby prefers not to leave the premises, the new tenant has Bartleby arrested as a squatter. His condition deteriorates, and dies in incarceration within a few days, having turned down any offers of help by his former employer.
The lawyer later learns that Bartleby had previously worked in the Dead Letter Office in Washington, and ponders on the relevance of his past employment on his current behaviour.
ANALYSIS
Opinion is divided about the lawyer who is the leader of the team: many believe him to be empathic, accommodating and even compassionate, but some see him as authoritarian!
While giving credence to the above observations, I have taken a broader view in examining the text according to the literary-critical practices adopted at the present time. I am guided by the following words of the American literary critic, Morris Dickstein, in relation to literary criticism in general—”The text is a living tissue of its manifold contexts. Everything that went into it – the mind that composed it, the language that articulated it, the literature that preceded it, the social moment that conditioned it, the generations that had put their mark on it, and the minds that received it”—should be considered, as quoted in, ‘Guide to Literary Criticism’ by D. C. R. A. Goonetilleke, one of Sri Lanka’s foremost literary critics.
As a first step, I have attempted to grasp ‘the point of the text as a whole’, prior to taking into account its interlocking parts that together convey the central idea or theme, reminiscent of the Systems Theory, ‘that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’.
The central theme of the text, from my perspective, is an allegorical representation of passive resistance – a struggle for free will – against an established system perceived as hegemonic, while carrying a cautionary tale of a potentially disastrous consequence of such an action. The author employs his favoured literary strategy of symbolism and allegory – with a hidden meaning of socio-political significance – in order to convey his message.
There are manifold contexts that contributed to the shaping of the text. In my view they include the symbolic meaning of the chosen venue of Wall Street; social concerns and the philosophical musings of the era; and the personal mindset of the author at the time.
I invite the reader to examine the text in the light of the following elaborations of the contexts.
SYMBOLISM
The story carries the subtitle, ‘A story of Wall Street’. In the 19th Century, Wall Street was [and still is] a symbol of American Capitalism. To those who advocated the rights of ordinary people, Wall Street was seen as a centre for greedy robber barons who allegedly exploited farmers and labourers. The financial hegemony of Wall Street persists.
THE SOCIAL and PHILOSOPHICAL MILIEU
The nineteenth century saw the emergence of the philosophical concept of Nihilism or extreme pessimism – that life has no purpose or intrinsic meaning, and that all values are baseless. The term was popularised by Friedrich Jacoby [1743-1819] and was further explored by Friedrich Nietzsche [1844-1900], both German philosophers and literary figures. The latter recognised its negative impact on human existence resulting in existential despair. He identified it as a barrier to advancement and creative possibilities, and emphasised the need to work through it in order to avoid annihilation of the human kind; but warned that such action may incur a heavy cost. It was during this period that the anti-slavery movement was gathering momentum in the United States.
THE MIND THAT COMPOSED IT
Melville was born into an established merchant family in New York. His father faced bankruptcy, suffered ‘insanity’, and later died when Melville was 12. He was forced to leave school at 15 and worked for several years as a bank clerk, a teacher and a labourer, before travelling to Europe and subsequently embarking on several sea voyages. During a whaling trip in the south Pacific, he jumped ship and lived briefly among the Typee cannibals in the Marquesas, finally ending up in Hawaii. He is known to have expressed strong opposition to the imposition of western values and practices on pagan societies.
On returning to the United States, he acquainted himself with a wide range of Philosophers and writers. He was particularly inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne [1804-1864] due to his radical innovation in writing, harsh satire of American life and allegorical representations. Melville’s life with primary cultures and his maritime experiences were reflected in his early writing. In 1851 he published Moby Dick, his Magnus Opus, which he dedicated to Hawthorne, and considered by many to be one of the finest works of American fiction. It recounts the vengeful voyage in pursuit of a killer whale depicting the power balance between man and beast, ending in disaster. To his intense disappointment, the work was not a commercial success and he felt that the readers did not pick up the allegory. It was five years later that he wrote, Bartleby, the Scrivener. He suffered bouts of depression. A few years later, his woes were compounded by the suicide of his son and he turned to alcohol for solace. His reputation as a writer faded into insignificance, to be revived only after his death.
It is interesting to note that Herman Melville was a contemporary of the Great Russian author, Leo Tolstoy [1828 – 1910], who opposed the autocratic Tsarist regime and its collusion with the aristocracy and the Orthodox Church. He advocated passive resistance which influenced Mahatma Gandhi in his struggle for independence. ‘Satyagraha’ [Satya: truth; graha: holding onto the truth] was a peaceful/ non-violent protest advocated by Gandhi. Nevertheless, there is no evidence to suggest that Melville was inspired by Tolstoy.
FORMULATION
The allegory of the narrative, I propose, carries a hidden meaning with a socio-political significance. Bartleby offers passive resistance to a system that is hegemonic, yet fragile, as represented by the law firm – a microcosm of Wall Street culture. From the limited information available about his background, Bartleby seems to have arrived in Wall Street from an environment of nihilism where he had the task of sorting out ‘dead letters’ which had no recipient. The letters had reached a dead end and served no purpose and were discarded. Bartleby paid a heavy price for his rebellion: he ‘stood his ground’, in an attempt at breaking through his nihilism, finally to be marginalised, evicted and incarcerated, leading to his demise. He arrived in Wall Street and ended up hitting his head against a brick wall!
POSTSCIPT
Over one and a half centuries have passed since Bartleby, the Scrivener was published, and it was after the author’s death that its literary value was recognised. It was perhaps written to covertly express views consistent with the times. Since then, many generations have held it up for scrutiny and made their mark on it through varying interpretations of it. Today, an era of nihilism has re-emerged with disease and death, economic hardship, and much talked about corruption and inept governance, sparking premonitions of the fate of Bartleby, absit omen, dragging this lesser known piece of literary artistry to the present time.