1. Home

The Dangers of Isolation in "Bartleby" by Herman Melville

In this literary analysis of "Bartleby, The Scrivener" by Herman Melville, the student considers the themes of isolation, both by society and self-inflicted. The student explores how Melville develops isolation into a motif through symbolism, descriptive passages, and use of irony.
PAGES
2
WORDS
760
  Cite
View Full Essay
About this essay
This essay received a B by one of Kibin's paper graders. Click here to see what was done well and what needs improvement.

More essays like this:

bartleby the scrivener
Not sure what I'd do without @Kibin
- Alfredo Alvarez, student @ Miami University
Exactly what I needed.
- Jenna Kraig, student @ UCLA
Wow. Most helpful essay resource ever!
- Chris Stochs, student @ UC Berkeley
Generating Preview...
This essay received a B by one of Kibin's paper graders. Click here to see what was done well and what needs improvement.

More essays like this:

bartleby the scrivener
Not sure what I'd do without @Kibin
- Alfredo Alvarez, student @ Miami University
Exactly what I needed.
- Jenna Kraig, student @ UCLA
Wow. Most helpful essay resource ever!
- Chris Stochs, student @ UC Berkeley

View other essays like this one:

Bridget's feedback:

"You've crafted a purposeful and specific thesis, and your body paragraphs in structure and focus build on the discussion logically. I recommend further tightening this up by trimming a few superfluous elements that take the argumentation outside the text. The first is the Nehru quotation, which feels a little out-of-left-field for the text, particularly the reference to "a nation," a macrolevel extension not borne out by the story or your discussion. Similarly, reference to time periods in the conclusion again doesn't quite hit the target in terms of relevancy: the mentioned decades are a hundred years after the story's publication, making the specific choice a little confusing, and the reference to freak shows is also unclear. Instead of bringing up real-world examples at length, stay in the text and what Melville has to say.

On a similar note, I'd like to check in on the conclusion, as well: the examples given suggest people ostracized by society; this is in contrast to the next lines about Bartleby bringing it all down on himself. I'm not clear, then, on how the examples illuminate the story; I also wonder if placing the entire onus on Bartleby jives with the story. I'd be interested if you find the narrator's attempt to explain why Bartleby was the way he was (and failing to coherently do so) the story's final word on "whose fault" Bartleby ultimately was. How should we understand "Ah humanity!"?"

Learn more about this feedback