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| | | -- By DanielChung - 04 May 2012 | |
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< | Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” is a love story—a story literally about the meaning and expression of love. Law school has taught me little about love so far. Once in a while, I stumble across the ghosts of justice, fairness, equality, kindness, compassion, sympathy, empathy, and pro bono, but the ghost of love, I have yet to meet. Perhaps love is an inappropriate subject for law school—too fluffy and unprofessional. I would prefer not to think this way. Fighting for justice and fairness is necessary but not sufficient for meaningful change in our world. Melville’s “Bartleby” reminds us that love for others and for humanity should inform our legal work. Melville presents us with at least three different conceptions of love and challenges us to embrace humanity fully and palpably, not just with lofty notions of social justice but with our hearts and hands. | >
> | Herman Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" is a love story--a story literally about the meaning and expression of love. Law school has taught me little about love so far. Once in a while, I stumble across the ghosts of justice, fairness, equality, kindness, compassion, sympathy, empathy, and pro bono, but the ghost of love, I have yet to meet. Perhaps love is an inappropriate subject for law school--too fluffy and unprofessional. I would prefer not to think this way. Fighting for justice and fairness is necessary but not sufficient for meaningful change in our world. Melville's "Bartleby" reminds us that love for others and for humanity should inform our legal work. Melville presents us with at least three different conceptions of love and challenges us to embrace humanity fully and palpably, not just with lofty notions of social justice but with our hearts and hands. | | | Using | |
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< | Love’s most natural opposite is hate, but Melville presents a more nuanced opposite: using other people. As an employer, the narrator of “Bartleby” obviously uses Bartleby and others as scriveners in the office. However, this economic use is not the target of Melville’s criticism. Instead, Melville focuses on the narrator’s using Bartleby to purchase catharsis and righteousness. As the narrator admits, “[Bartleby] is useful to me…Here I can cheaply purchase a delicious self-approval. To befriend Bartleby; to humor him in his strange willfulness, will cost me little or nothing, while I lay up in my soul what will eventually prove a sweet morsel for my conscience.” Even when Bartleby repeatedly refuses to do the narrator’s bidding, the narrator tolerates the insubordination and marvels at his own magnanimity. The narrator’s use of Bartley is more problematic than open hatred or contempt because it lulls the narrator into a false sense of self-righteousness. The harm is less visible and thus more justifiable. In fact, the narrator believes that keeping Bartleby in his current capacity is proper because Bartleby would otherwise receive harsh mistreatment from other employers. Melville’s juxtaposition of loving others and using others reminds us aspiring lawyers that our clients and fellow lawyers are not pawns on our social justice chessboard. We should not use people for our selfish gain or seemingly selfless causes. Instead, we should unite our interests with others and work toward common goals as fellow human beings whose fates are intertwined. | >
> | Love's most natural opposite is hate, but Melville presents a more nuanced opposite: using other people. As an employer, the narrator of "Bartleby" obviously uses Bartleby and others as scriveners in the office. However, this economic use is not the target of Melville's criticism. Instead, Melville focuses on the narrator's using Bartleby to purchase catharsis and righteousness. As the narrator admits, "[Bartleby] is useful to me...Here I can cheaply purchase a delicious self-approval. To befriend Bartleby; to humor him in his strange willfulness, will cost me little or nothing, while I lay up in my soul what will eventually prove a sweet morsel for my conscience." Even when Bartleby repeatedly refuses to do the narrator's bidding, the narrator tolerates the insubordination and marvels at his own magnanimity. The narrator's use of Bartley is more problematic than open hatred or contempt because it lulls the narrator into a false sense of self-righteousness. The harm is less visible and thus more justifiable. In fact, the narrator believes that keeping Bartleby in his current capacity is proper because Bartleby would otherwise receive harsh mistreatment from other employers. Melville's juxtaposition of loving others and using others reminds us aspiring lawyers that our clients and fellow lawyers are not pawns on our social justice chessboard. We should not use people for our selfish gain or seemingly selfless causes. Instead, we should unite our interests with others and work toward common goals as fellow human beings whose fates are intertwined. | | | Doing | |
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< | Although Melville recognizes that actions can express love, he avoids the temptation to conflate doing good for others with loving others. In fact, Melville reveals that good actions cannot replace love but can often lead to complacency. For example, the narrator in “Bartleby” eventually transitions from tolerating and using Bartleby to pitying and helping Bartleby. The desire for catharsis mutates into a desire for charity. Inspired by a “fraternal melancholy” and convinced that Bartleby is “the victim of innate and incurable disorder,” the narrator resolves to “give alms to [Bartleby’s] body.” Although the narrator claims that the divine injunction to love others motivates his charity and philanthropy, his actions belie his words. Charity and philanthropy are merely cheap substitutes for genuine love. For the narrator, Bartleby is ultimately a burden—something to quit rather than someone to love. Even the seemingly selfless action of inviting Bartleby to his own home is merely a stopgap to preserve his reputation. Having fulfilled his soi-disant duty, the narrator slides into complacency: “I now strove to be entirely care-free and quiescent; and my conscience justified me in the attempt.” And with a few silver coins, the narrator transfers custody of Bartleby into the hands of the grub-man. As aspiring lawyers, we should not grow complacent simply because we do good in the world or do extensive pro bono work. Loving our work is important, but as Melville reveals, loving people is even more important. We should avoid the temptation to substitute acts of kindness and justice for genuine and loving relationships. Doing good and loving others are not mutually exclusive, but they do not always come together. | >
> | Although Melville recognizes that actions can express love, he avoids the temptation to conflate doing good for others with loving others. In fact, Melville reveals that good actions cannot replace love but can often lead to complacency. For example, the narrator in "Bartleby" eventually transitions from tolerating and using Bartleby to pitying and helping Bartleby. The desire for catharsis mutates into a desire for charity. Inspired by a "fraternal melancholy" and convinced that Bartleby is "the victim of innate and incurable disorder," the narrator resolves to "give alms to [Bartleby's] body." Although the narrator claims that the divine injunction to love others motivates his charity and philanthropy, his actions belie his words. Charity and philanthropy are merely cheap substitutes for genuine love. For the narrator, Bartleby is ultimately a burden--something to quit rather than someone to love. Even the seemingly selfless action of inviting Bartleby to his own home is merely a stopgap to preserve his reputation. Having fulfilled his soi-disant duty, the narrator slides into complacency: "I now strove to be entirely care-free and quiescent; and my conscience justified me in the attempt." And with a few silver coins, the narrator transfers custody of Bartleby into the hands of the grub-man. As aspiring lawyers, we should not grow complacent simply because we do good in the world or do extensive pro bono work. Loving our work is important, but as Melville reveals, loving people is even more important. We should avoid the temptation to substitute acts of kindness and justice for genuine and loving relationships. Doing good and loving others are not mutually exclusive, but they do not always come together. | | | Being | |
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< | Togetherness—being together—is at the core of Melville’s conception of love in “Bartleby.” To be with is to love. Melville reveals that physical presence is an important aspect of togetherness. Like a ghost, Bartleby haunts the narrator’s office and is always there “first in the morning, continually through the day, and the last at night.” While everyone else around him works incessantly, Bartleby prefers not to work and simply exists and is present. Although the narrator believes that Bartleby suffers from “miserable friendlessness and loneliness,” Melville reveals that the narrator’s solitude is just as extensive, if not worse. Physical proximity to people is not enough: even though the narrator surrounds himself with eccentric workers, he never touches their lives directly and suffers from relational bankruptcy. Whereas the narrator is constantly occupied by work, Bartleby constantly occupies the narrator’s life—constantly waiting for the narrator to stop and to be with Bartleby. As the narrator admits, “Since [Bartleby] will not quit me, I must quit him.” Only after successfully quitting himself of Bartleby does the narrator yearn to be with Bartleby. And only after touching Bartleby’s dead body does the narrator belatedly experience the intimations of love. Love, as Melville presents it, is a relational and connected state of existence. We exist together in unity with those we love. Melville challenges us to be there for our clients—physically listening to them and touching their lives concretely. Our words as well as our presence—our very being—enable us to effect change in the world. | >
> | Togetherness--being together--is at the core of Melville's conception of love in "Bartleby." To be with is to love. Melville reveals that physical presence is an important aspect of togetherness. Like a ghost, Bartleby haunts the narrator's office and is always there "first in the morning, continually through the day, and the last at night." While everyone else around him works incessantly, Bartleby prefers not to work and simply exists and is present. Although the narrator believes that Bartleby suffers from "miserable friendlessness and loneliness," Melville reveals that the narrator's solitude is just as extensive, if not worse. Physical proximity to people is not enough: even though the narrator surrounds himself with eccentric workers, he never touches their lives directly and suffers from relational bankruptcy. Whereas the narrator is constantly occupied by work, Bartleby constantly occupies the narrator's life--constantly waiting for the narrator to stop and to be with Bartleby. As the narrator admits, "Since [Bartleby] will not quit me, I must quit him." Only after successfully quitting himself of Bartleby does the narrator yearn to be with Bartleby. And only after touching Bartleby's dead body does the narrator belatedly experience the intimations of love. Love, as Melville presents it, is a relational and connected state of existence. We exist together in unity with those we love. Melville challenges us to be there for our clients--physically listening to them and touching their lives concretely. Our words as well as our presence--our very being--enable us to effect change in the world. |
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