Essay 2, Initial Draft

Kristen Grimmett

English 102

Mrs. Cline

February 26, 2012

Literary Analysis

The short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-street” by Herman Melville is a story of a lawyer and his employees. The lawyer, an unnamed character, owns his own law firm and hires scriveners to prepare his legal important documents. The introduction includes the lawyer describing his employees: Turkey, Nippers and Ginger-Nuts. The plot starts when additional help is hired in the name of Bartleby. Bartleby becomes the main character, or focus, for the rest of the piece. Through insubordination and frequent disregard for the lawyer’s instructions, Bartleby persists in doing only what he “prefers” to do. He continues to refuse to obey the orders of the lawyer of the work that needed done, until in the end, when Bartleby produces no work at all. The climax of the story is when Bartleby is presented with an ultimatum that he must either conform to the lawyer’s wishes or leave the place of employment. When he decides not to leave, the lawyer quits the office and moves to another location. Bartleby ends up being sent to the Tombs, a prison.

During the introduction the lawyer gives a very detailed description of his employees. Turkey was described as an older gentleman who works hard and is a much needed member of the lawyer’s team. He has a shorter temper during the afternoons but is a great worker in the morning. Nippers is a younger individual who, although with less experience, is also an important member of the team. Nippers is always adjusted the height of his desk and works best in the afternoon.  They both have characteristics described as being an annoyance to the lawyer during the day of work. However, since they trade off their annoying habits mid-day, they equal themselves out. I believe that Melville did this to show the reader that you have to take the good with the bad.  The third employee that the lawyer describes is Ginger-Nut, who gets his nickname by being the person to bring the delicious cakes ginger-nuts. He is a very young boy that runs errands for the lawyer and helps him out as needed.

The point that the author is trying to make is that Bartleby was being a passive rebel. He refused to do the work; however, he did so in such a way that the author felt sympathy and could do nothing to correct Bartleby. The lawyer gave Bartleby plenty of opportunities to change and to make better decisions. He even offered the reformists the funds to do something different. The lawyer has no fault in this matter. He did everything he could to help the poor man.  

Summary vs. Analysis

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Summary vs. Analysis

A summary of a piece of writing is a brief description of what happened or what the author was writing about. A good summary will include the thesis and the main supporting details from the text. It is a condensed version of a piece of literature, normally no more than a paragraph. However, some can be a little longer, and can become a basic retailing of the story. Summaries do not go any deeper than the surface of the text. 

That is when an analysis comes into play. An analysis looks for the deeper meaning of the piece and tries to grasp a better understanding of what the author is saying. A summary has to happen first to be able to complete an analysis. This is because you have to have a good understanding of the story to try to analyze the authors point of view. Sometimes analysis can  be trying to portray the true meaning or can become an argument of the author's thesis.

To learn more, click on Summary vs Analysis

"A Modest Proposal" - Jonathan Swift

http://www.luminarium.org/eightlit/swift/

Week Two: Reflection of Essay

1) What is the problem that Swift identified in his society? What does he want to do about it?

The problem that Swift identifies in his society is that there are a large number of young, poor children that are causing hardships and becoming burdens to their mothers and therefore make there mothers become criminals to try to support there children. He also states that some of these young lost people end up leaving their homeland.  Swift proposes that at the age of 1 a child should then be sold and eaten. 

2) Is his suggestion serious? If not, what is the purpose? What is he making fun of?

I do not feel that Swift's suggestion was serious. He would have to be quite mad to truely feel  that way. I believe however, the his purpose was to cause a shock. I believe he was making fun of the English and the Irish saying that to fix there problem they would eat their babies.

3) Is his solution logical? What kind of evidence does he give his position?

Swift tries to present his solution logically. However, I feel it can only sound so rational when the topic is eating babies. He talks of the benefits that would come from it. He mentions how it would take away the burden from the mothers to provide and support such large families. He even goes into the details of how good the "quality" of the meat is that comes from these young children. 




Overall it was an interesting read. However, I do not agree with his solution. 

To learn more about Jonathan Swift, click below!


Jonathan Swift