A Modest Proposal

A Modest Proposal is a satirical essay written by Jonathan Swift to address "preventing the children of poor people from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick" in 1729 Ireland.  His unique approach to the situation alludes to that the situation was being approached form a primarily monetary perspective and that if the Irish attended to the issue with more compassion and addressed the human issues instead that there might be better progress, by presenting a seemingly outlandish, but by the numbers proposal that virtually took the human element out of the equation.  The goal is to reach his primary audience, educated Irishmen of that period and to show them how they are perpetuating the problem instead of helping to address it and help their countrymen.  As a secondary audience it is easy for us to see contextualize what was going on in Ireland at the time and to look poorly on some of their practices such as the exportation of unwanted people to Barbados.  The arguments Swift makes are along the lines of logos and addresses the issue in a logical way that doesn't account for ethos.  However, that very construction appeals to the ethos because it is designed to cause a very emotional reaction in readers.  The idea of raising poor peoples babies to then sell and slaughter at a year old for a small sum of money is designed to get people who are not already upset about the situation riled up, and to take those who are already excited about it and show them some of the author's perceived errors in their management of the situation.

Rhetorical Analysis

Rhetorical analysis is a process we use to analyze a work.  It takes into consideration who the intended audience is, and appeals to elements of ethos, pathos, and logos.  Although this type of analysis is well suited for reading persuasive literature, it can also be applied to other types of works such as advertisements.  For my class we were asked to apply it to a film advertisement of our choice.



The information presented prior to the advertisement itself is meant for those who are not of the intended audience of the original ad.  The primary intended audience for the ad itself is Indians.  This is clearly based on the very cultural nature of the content.  Without the additional information provided in the Youtube video, we as the secondary audience may not fully understand the meaning of the ad.  The ad plays heavily on the pathos, taking the viewer through the emotional experience of the death of the husband, and the stripping of the wife of the symbols of marriage.  The emotional journey is designed to draw the viewer in and have them holding their breaths to see what is going to happen.  The logos element is also used, in that it makes sense that a permanent marker would be difficult to simply wipe off, and should reasonably last.  There is a jump in logic when the immovability of the dot leads to the revival of the husband, but it works because of the appeal to pathos.  The advertisement is very effective in reaching it's audience and appealing to them in a way that is memorable.

Bartleby, Essay 1

In reading Bartleby, The Scrivener, I was most interested in the internal conflict going on with the narrator of the tale.  For my class we were assigned to write a paper based on our choice of thesis about the meaning of the work.  I chose to write about the breakdown of the story's narrator and how Bartleby is in fact a manifestation of part of the narrator, and doesn't actually exist as a scrivener employed in his office.

Bartleby, The Scrivener, by Herman Melville is more than the reader initially thinks.  The character Bartleby is not really an employee of the narrator, but is instead actually a facet of himself that he projects into being, as he struggles with his own work and life ambitions.  He uses the imaginary scrivener to work more effectively for some time, but the conflict between this facet and the rest of him being escalates until he is anything but industrious.

From the very beginning of the tale, the narrator tells us that he “believe(s) that no materials exist for a full and satisfactory biography of this man.” (Melville 1)  There is no past for Bartleby, nor is there reason to need to look into his background because he is part of the narrator.  Even from the beginning the narrator trusts him implicitly, stating, “I had a singular confidence in his honesty.  I felt my most precious papers perfectly safe in his hands” (Melville 29) despite that he continues to reiterate that, “he had declined telling who he was, or whence he came.” (Melville 35)

One of the biggest challenges the narrator faces, is that he is struggling with being industrious in his work.  He claims that, “I am a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best.” (Melville 4)  Here he states that he believes in doing the minimum of work, and really tells us that he has no high aspirations in life.  Through Bartleby’s presence, he has the opportunity to manifest his desire to be more productive in his work.  He mentions that he is getting older, and perhaps with this realization is looking at his life and how under-achieving he has been.  But almost from the outset, even Bartleby still exudes the narrators apathy as he notes, “I should have been quite delighted with his application, had he been cheerfully industrious.  But he wrote on silently, palely, mechanically.” (Melville 15)

Bartleby becomes a constant presence in the workplace.  “As days passed on, I became considerably reconciled to Bartleby, his incessant industry (except when he chose to throw himself into a standing revery behind his screen), his great, stillness, his unalterableness of demeanor under all circumstances, made him a valuable acquisition.  One prime thing was this,- he was always there;- first thing in the morning, continually through the day, and the last at night.” (Melville 29)  First the narrator notes that Bartleby is always present at work, and attributes it to his industry, but eventually comes to the realization that Bartleby must be living in his office.  The area of his life that Bartleby is connected with is exclusively the work environment, so compartmentalizing this aspect of himself in this manner helps him to isolate it from the rest of his life.  “I observed that he never went to dinner; indeed that he never went any where.  As yet I had never of my personal knowledge known him to be outside my office.” (Melville 23)  Bartleby is only necessary in the workplace, and thus only exists there.

As the tale progresses, the narrator and Bartleby become more intertwind.  The lawyer feels a deep connection to the man Bartleby who he describes, and despite the scrivener’s refusal to participate in checking over his work, and eventual refusal to even work at copying, he cannot bring himself to fire him. “Had there been anything ordinarily human about him, doubtless I should have violently dismissed him from the premises.” (Melville 18)  Indeed there is nothing truly human about the apparition that is Bartleby.  He continually refuses to do work by saying that he would prefer not to do it, and the lawyer starts hearing people use the word prefer all the time.  He even admits to it creeping into his own vocabulary, and reflects on the way that the Bartleby part of him is manifesting and beginning to affect other aspects of his life.  “Somehow, of late I had got into the way of involuntarily using this word ‘prefer’ upon all sorts of not exactly suitable occasions.  And I trembled to think that my contact with the scrivener had already and seriously affected me in a mental way.  And what further and deeper aberration might it not yet produce?” (Melville 39)  When he finally seems able to separate himself from the scrivener he finds that he is pained by the loss of that part of himself, “Yes, my procedure had worked to a charm; he indeed must be vanished.  Yet a certain melancholy mixed with this: I was almost sorry for my brilliant success.” (Melville 46)

Bartleby is referenced to several times as a non-living or inhuman being.  The narrator notes that he is not like a human in any way of his manner, and thus he cannot put him out.  He later asks what aberrations Bartleby may cause to affect him.  Bartleby is in fact himself the aberration, “a very ghost, agreeabl(e) to the laws of magical invocation.” (Melville 27)  He seems to be completely detached from the rest of the office, and persists in efficient copying on so long as he prefers to, then quits himself of the task, and simply exists in the corner of the office, taking up a part of the narrators space, a place in his life, while still being hidden behind his screen.

The lawyer is pained by Bartleby’s situation and considers that he, “might give alms to his body; but his body did not pain him; it was his soul that suffered, and his soul I could not reach.” (Melville 36)  The internal strife that is going on is deep within the lawyers soul, and he knows not how to address it.  He concerns himself with the scrivener to the point that he gives him extra money that he never takes.  He even notes that the money just falls to the floor when he hands it to the nonexistent man.  The lawyer  “slipp(ed) something in his hand.  But it dropped upon the floor.”( Melville 56)   He considers the time that he has spent with Bartleby, noting “I now recalled all the quiet mysteries which I had noted in the man.  I remembered that he never spoke but to answer.” (Melville 33)  It seems odd that he would have such a connection to the man if he were not a part of himself, that deep seeded desire to succeed, but so lacking in life. 

Even from the beginning, the narrator feels trapped in his current situation.  He discusses that through time the city around his office had grown, until “within three feet of the panes was a wall, and the light came down from far above.” (Melville 15)   This theme continues as he discusses Bartleby’s propensity for staring out at that wall for hours at a time.  This is echoed again in his description on the prison courtyard when he goes to visit Bartleby in jail, where “he slowly moved to the other side of the inclosure, and took up a position fronting the dead-wall.” (Melville 65)

Though the narrator contends that “Hence, though I belong to a profession proverbially energetic and nervous, even to turbulence, at times, yet nothing of that sort have I ever suffered to invade my peace, “(Melville 4) it is clear that through his interactions with the scrivener Bartleby, he does indeed find himself in such a state.  In what is his obvious internal dialog, he speaks to Bartleby, “I never feel so private as when I know you are here.  At last I see it, I feel it; I penetrate to the predestined purpose of my life.  I am content.”( Melville 51)  Although the narrator attempts to have industry in his professional life, and to spend his last years of working aspiring to something more, he ends up not being able to reconcile himself to such a life, and instead prefers not to rise to anything more than he already is.

Works Cited

Melville, Herman. Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street. 1853. Kindle Edition.

Current Unassigned Reading

I currently have a lot of reading that is required for me classes, so personal reading is a little slow.  I have however, not been able to resist, and have several new books lined up.

http://mikyunglim.wordpress.com/2011/11/07/desert/

I have started rereading Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fischer Staples, which I plan to follow with rereading the sequel, Haveli, so that I can then continue with the third book in the series.  I originally read the first book as part of a young women and mother's book club when I was in middle school.  I like it so much I read the sequel, but had no idea until recently that it was a trilogy.  Since it has been quite a few years, I decided it would be best to refresh the story.  I then have two additional books of hers that I plan to read.

Simultaneously I have started reading No True Glory upon the recommendation of a friend.  It's obviously a much heavier book, as it is a non-fiction book chronicling fighting in Fallujah.  So far it has been very interesting.  I feel like these kinds of works are ones that we really need to be reading.  People need to look war in the face, and see how ugly it is.  Yes, it's uncomfortable, but it's truth, and only by facing it can we start to begin to understand it and be able to do anything about it.

It seems like I'm really focusing on the mid-east for my recent reading, from Iran (I read several books my Marjane Satrapi over the summer break), to Pakistan (where Staples sets her books), to Iraq.  It has been, and continues to be an amazing journey learning about this amazingly diverse part of the world, it's people, culture, and historical struggles, as well as the ways that we (Americans) have been interacting with them.

The Man Bartleby

In his work, Bartleby, The Scrivener, Herman Melville tells the tale of a Wall Street lawyer and the evolution of his relationship with one of his scriveners.  The story is told in the first person, from the point of view of the lawyer, whose perspective provides for some very intriguing questions.  Can we trust the narrator?  Why is the narrator compelled to tell his story?  And one that I'd like to focus on, what is the true relationship between the narrator and Bartleby?  I plan to go more in depth with this later, but for now, let's just look at a selection from the text:

"As days passed on, I became considerably reconciled to Bartleby.  His steadiness, his freedom from all dissipation, his incessant industry (except when he chose to throw himself into a standing revery behind his screen), his great, stillness, his unalterableness of demeanor under all circumstances, made him a valuable acquisition.  One prime thing was this, -he was always there;- first thing in the morning, continually through the day, and the last at night.  I had a singular confidence in his honesty.  I felt my most precious papers perfectly safe in his hands." (28-9)

Microsoft.com

This excerpt really highlights the attitude of the narrator towards Bartleby.  I contend that Bartleby may in fact be a part of the narrator's own personality and may not physically exist at all.  The narrator comments that he has never been the type to have trouble with nervousness as many of his peers have, yet becomes quite agitated and on edge, not knowing what to do with the man Bartleby when he won't cooperate.

Bartleby is identified by the narrator as being industrious, and completely trustworthy in the quote, yet he won't do any task aside from copying, and the narrator claims to know not of his background. It is also interesting to note that a work station was set up for him in a corner of the narrator's office, and not in the other room where the other scriveners work.  This is never completely explained.  It makes sense that if Bartleby is indeed a part of the narrator that he would always be there when the narrator is.  In fact, Bartelby never leaves work, and thus represents a part of the narrator that is involved only with his work life, and not his personal life until he tries to leave that part of him behind later in the tale, by moving to a new office.

Something I find very telling in the struggle that the narrator has with how to deal with Bartleby.  He finds him to be industrious, and considers him to be a great addition to his staff, but is also continually frustrated by him and his unaltering demeanor.  It seems that, it might be that he can't simply fire him because it's not that simple.  He can't let go of that other part of himself, that he trusts to be industrious, yet silently rebels.  It seems to truly be a reflection of the lawyer who, from the start, identifies himself as someone who does a lot of work, though having no aspirations beyond what he is.  Perhaps Bartleby is the same in that he does his copying, but nothing more.

There are many ways to read this text.  The way I read the short story and the interaction between the characters was similar to the film Fight Club.  What thoughts and questions did you take away from reading it?



Melville, Herman. Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street. 1853. Kindle Edition.