“Bartleby the scrivener” by Herman Melville (1953) , and 1984 by George Orwell (1949) are two well known classics that, even though, written 100 years apart from each other, placed in different countries and continents, and showing totally different scenarios , share some characteristics of society, such as inequality, social isolation, and social and individual roles in a system that wants to control everything. These characteristics can be analyzed and compared to reach a conclusion about the main concerns of the authors in a dystopian world, in which everything is imperfect and everything goes terribly wrong.
By means of this, I will start by giving a little summary of both stories as to contextualize the information that will be compared ahead. Secondly, I will give the historical context of both stories to show how the development of those events could have lead the authors to produce such important pieces of work. Thirdly, I will compare the information gathered to reach conclusion.
First of all, “Bartleby the scrivener” tells the story of an unambitious Wall Street lawyer that decides to hire a fourth clerk to relieve the load of work of his law firm. A man called Bartleby takes the job and after days of successful and dutiful job, decides not to work anymore, refusing any duty with the words “I would prefer not to”. However, he also refuses to quit his job, to be fired, and to leave the workplace, turning into an unwanted and eccentric guest.
1984 is a dystopian novel that takes place in a post-apocalyptic Era in which the Earth has been divided among 3 nations which are constantly on war with each other. The novel follows the story of a man named Winston who lives in London in the nation of Oceania. He is a low-ranking member of the ruling Party leadered by a political figure known only as Big Brother, and feels frustrated by the oppression and rigid control of the Party. These nations, more especially Oceania, is characterized by its power for controlling everything that their citizens do, for the use of propaganda to brainwash their citizens, for the use of devices to oppress their populations, the criminalization of thoughts, and for the invention and implementation of a language, called Newspeak, that aims to prevent future rebellions.
Secondly, In his essay about modernism Childs (2000) explains that Modernist texts often focus on social, spiritual or personal collapse, all of these characteristics are present in these dystopian stories, and showcase their plot since they are set in a time when social relations are almost lost because of the capitalist, and totalitarianism voragine. “Bartleby the scrivener” was written in an era in which the world was being reshaped by means of countless important historical events that happened only a few years before and after its publication. Namely, the Industrial revolutions in Europe, which created an economic gap in the world economy that has been impossible to close until today, the rise of some colonies against the empires because they didn’t want to be ruled by them anymore, the 1840 to 1850 labour riots because of class warfare in New York, and the worldwide spread of capitalism among others events.
On the other hand, 1984 was written in a time in which society was facing the beginning of the Cold War, a time in which the world was absolutely polarized, people didn’t trust on each other, and some countries were really impoverished after the end of the World War II. Some countries enjoyed their freedom while others were tyrannized under totalitarian regimes that kept and iron fist on its citizens, who had little or no freedom, and that were forced to work, were poor, hungry, and living under the constant menace of mass execution, an allegedly common procedure in those regimes.
Both stories highlight the conditions in which the working class lived in those times. The working class was so impoverished after all the global events that had happened, not to mention because the minimal wage didn’t exist yet, that they worked not to live, but to survive. Meanwhile, the upper class enjoyed their extravagant luxuries and lifestyle, something that we can also relate with to today’s society. The following quote of Bartleby the scrivener mentions how Turkey, one of the scriveners wasn’t able to even afford new clothes, even though, he worked on a law firm.
The truth was, I suppose, that a man of so small an income, could not afford to sport such a lustrous face and a lustrous coat at one and the same time. As Nippers once observed, Turkey’s money went chiefly for red ink. (Melville, 2003:4)
Therefore, office workers like Bartleby, Nuts, Turkey, and Nippers had to live in practical poverty because people in the position of authority, in this case their boss, the lawyer, didn’t take into account to real needs of his workers. Moreover, 1984 also mentions the impoverished look and aesthetics of the working class.
He moved over to the window: a smallish, frail
figure, the meagerness of his body merely emphasized by the blue
overalls (Melville, 2003:2)
Their society presents a dichotomy in their living conditions. The head of the Party, the Inner party, lived with luxury, with servants at their disposition, and in beautiful apartments, while the the Party members, who were the majority, lived in single room apartments located in rickety places. Even their food was tasteless and of low quality. These dreary, decrepit and dark scenes of poverty are a fine example of dystopia in both stories.
Another comparison between the two books is that it is full with class alienation, and the social roles of the characters are uneven. In “Bartleby the scrivener” the lawyer separate himself physically from his workers by putting screens to divide his space and their space, that way he didn’t need to look at them while they worked, yet, this simple act of .
I should have stated before that ground glass folding-doors divided my premises into two parts, one of which was occupied by my scriveners, the other by myself. According to my humor I threw open these doors, or closed them (Melville, 2003:6)
Moreover, in 1984 characters also show class alienation, however, the relation made in that book is far more explicit, since in that story, people from the same social class are allowed to share among them and they are obligued to use the same colours and clothes to give them a sense of hegemony, but, they are not allowed to mix with someone from a lower social class Party members were supposed not to go into ordinary shops ("dealing on the free market," it was called) (Orwell, 1984:1.1.13)
These facts are very important to understand that this story is not just about an eccentric scrivener who refused to work or to leave his work place after being fired, and it is not just about a man who decided to face a totalitarian regime, but it is also about the uneven relation and opportunities, that existed and that still exists, among social classes.
It is also important to pinpoint that both novels mention the annulation of individuality. In “Bartleby the scrivener” all the office workers have a mold imposed by the society, their is to work all day without complaint, drink some liquor after work, and going home. in 1984 is the same, each social class has its own mold to which adhere, they must act, think, and dress as they were told without discussion, they didn’t have independence or individuality and no one could be unique. However, Winston yearns to be different after so many years of being just another brick in the wall, so he decides to face this mold imposed by the system. I think that these are metaphor of a common social behaviour, our society tends to base other people's identity according to their profession or occupation, it seems that it is impossible for us to separate both things since we are what the system has imposed us. Those who do not fit it the mold imposed by the society are obliged to change or else they will be replaced. That was the case with with Bartleby, he didn’t fit anywhere inside the mold, didn’t want to do what the other workers did since he was there only to copy, not to make errands, so he was removed. Both characters fight against losing their identity, but they also deal with how that identity affects they place in society. .
REFERENCES
Childs, Peter. Modernism. London: Routleage, 2000
Orwell, G. (1983). 1984. New York: Plume.
Melville, H. (2003). Bartleby the scrivener =. Paris: Gallimard.
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