Social Deviance in Bartleby the Scrivener Essay -- Bartleby Scrivener

Social Deviance in Bartleby the Scrivener Bartleby the Scrivener is a story that takes place on Wall Street, peopled by workers of a common mold. Being a non-conformatist of the most extreme type, Bartleby is eventually suffers a death of attrition. The message that Melville intends for the reader is how society has little tolerance for social deviance. I mentioned a common mold, the engine which impelled the "society" of Wall Street to keep on existing. This common mold consists of working a full day, going home and relax, possibly drinking some beer or whatnot. This is where the theme of ostracization of social deviance comes into play, expressed in the metaphor of individual versus society. Those who do not fit into the common mold are pressured to change or are removed forcibly. Bartleby is an example of a character that doesnÍt fit anywhere even near the mold...