Walls In Melville's Bartleby The Scrivener

The use of “walls,” such as that of Wall-street, conveys two important key points about western culture. The use of walling, in the modern sense, or the use of architectural rectangular prisms, is a very western invention, which in-part symbolizes the denaturing of western society. The second important feature brought about by walls is their confining nature, such as the prison that Bartleby finds himself in near the end of the novel. “Walls” are eventually associated with death itself, moving from bartleby’s dead-wall reveries (his staring at the wall during work) to conjoining the two words into one, making deadwall. Melville also employs walls as not only physical barriers, but as mental barriers, eventually diminishing bartleby to simply existing.
The story begins by the narrator stating “I am a rather elderly man.” This is further expanded by the narrator, or lawyers, calm composure “i seldom lose my temper” (which is later found to be somewhat incorrect,) and use of experience in his field of work. For
That being said, the “dead” symbolism used in the story is key to understanding both Bartleby’s descent into madness, and the ending. Bartleby can be described as a “dead man walking” in a sense, having come to terms with death, with the depressing and un-important job at the Dead-letter office bringing about this change. As noted by Ann Woodlief, the last few lines make mention to biblical passage, bringing some to interpret Bartleby’s journey as a revelation for the narrator, both changing his character, and bringing about a fundamental view on the nature of humanity. Any interpretation of this text will be biased by many factors, such as time era, socio-political events and themes, generation attitude, etc. For me, this story speak volumes on the western institution of Wall-Street, but for other times it could speak volumes on the christian figure of