Conformity vs. Rebellion (Bartleby the Scrivener) Essay

Conformity and insurrection argon evil twins that gaysity has been nourishing since the beginning of civilization. As we conform to the social norms that surround us everyday, we are trapped at heart of this overwhelming system where we easily lose ourselves as individuals. On the early(a) hand, the urges of rebellion that live in our ego compel us to blast from the state of our bondages. Yet, our superegos are trying to keep us in a reasonable threshold, and enable us to stay in the system. As a result, people are fighting a constant internal troth of symmetry versus rebellion. As Herman Melville describes in his story Bartleby the Scrivener, humanity is hopelessly essay between conformity and rebellion. He presents us with images of entrapment and death to address his concerns for the issues of conformity and rebellion.The images of entrapment are evident throughout the story. From the lofty brick wall outside of the shoes window to the go bad-dividing prison walls which Bartleby died within, the fabricator traps the readers in his dark replica of reality. looking for out the office windows, the light came down from far above, between ii lofty buildings, as from a very small opening in a dome. The physical confinement of their dark and depressed office quad is apparent through the images of the dim lighting and restricted view. For Bartleby, the confinement is no yener physical plainly psychological. From his long-continued motionlessness, that behind his screen he must be standing in one of those dead-wall reveries of his. This unusual behavior is a common act of such character.It is non the act of boredom but desperation and hopelessness that disintegrates from within and disables him from engaging in any racy activates. As the narrator takes the readers to the final resting place of Bartleby, he portrays the ultimate human confinement, the prison. The extreme thickness of the prison walls kept off all sound behind them. The images of en trapment are clear, that the inescapable prison walls trap any life sentence souls inside of their boundaries. However, to Bartleby it is just another empty place, for his soul has already died long ago. The walls only keep off the outside world from him rather than curb the already seized motions of Bartlebys. It is the place where Bartleby chooses to escape from all, and rest for an eternity with kings and counselors.Images of death accrue as a natural companion of entrapment. The character of Bartleby appears ghostly and lifeless. He is a motionless young man, who works quietly like a machine in his dark and confined space. Unlike the way the narrator describes the other three employees of his, Bartleby has no anger, no ambition, and almost nothing human roughly him at all. The idly cadaverous response, I would prefer not to from Bartleby, implies that this mans spirit has died long before his physical death. at that place is nothing in this world excites him or motivates hi m, leaving him only dreaded depression.This emotional emptiness must drive Bartleby to insanity, to the extent that he gives up all life burdens including basic biological functions such as take and sleeping. Later in the story, Bartleby is sent to the Tombs, because of the uncooperative nature of this man. The name of the put away Tombs carries a symbolic meaning of death. In the narrators rendering of the interior of the jail the Egyptian character of the masonry weighed upon me with its gloom, he reinforces the indestructible and indispensable power of death with these chilling images.The images of entrapment and death are excellent representations of to the idea of conformity and rebellion, whereas Bartleby lives with the entrapment of his unfulfilling life, and finally chooses death as his ultimate rebellion. The narrator, Herman Melville, constructs the abstract character, Bartleby, to kindle and speak for his desperation and hopelessness feeling towards the fate of hum anity as a whole. Quite like the dilemma Melville brought to our attention a one-half century ago, societies today are still struggling with issues of conformity and rebellion. We are so driven by the errands of life, and rarely stop and think about the reasons of our very existence. As the train of life speeds us to the final destination, we run across that we have traveled the exact same track as everyone else did.