ipl-logo

What Does It Means To Be Human, By Herman Melville

124 Words1 Page

What does it mean to be human? And what does it mean to be a “free” in the human sense of the word? Herman Melville describes both in his story about what it is to be Bartleby and also what it is to work and employ a human who does not act as such. While re-reading this story, I found myself going through a spate of emotions including confusion about Bartleby’s non-compliance and his “preference” to not do things asked of him, amusement about this peculiarity, frustration about his insubordination which eventually turns to anger, but mostly sadness about his choice to not use those talents so freely given to him by G-d. This to me is what being “human” and “free” is

Show More
Related

  • The Blessing Of Inensibility In The Jungle By Upton Sinclair

    217 Words  | 1 Pages

    Every day the immigrants went to work and grinded away and made not that much change. This hard work caused indescribable grief, explained by Sinclair, “It was stupefying, brutalizing work; it left her no time to think, no strength for anything.” Also, written in “The Jungle”, Sinclair described Elzbieta and the immigrants experiencing a difficult life and that insensibility is a merciful blessing, “She was part of the machine she tended, and every faculty that was not needed for the machine was doomed to be crushed out of existence. There was only one mercy about the cruel grind-- that it gave her the gift of insensibility.”

    Read More

  • Chris Mccandless 'Into The Wild' By Ralph Waldo Emerson

    195 Words  | 1 Pages

    Though assigned books in English class are not always books on my must-read list, Into the Wild was a winter reading assignment with a captivating main character, Chris McCandless. After winter break, Room 7304 discussions revolved around if Chris McCandless was “great,” by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s definition. As the class majority believed McCandless was heartless and ridiculous and suicidal, I couldn’t help but believe in his “greatness.” If I could meet Chris McCandless, American hiker and itinerant traveler destined to reach the Alaskan wilderness, I would ask him how was he able to block out all the societal influences, even during high school. How was McCandless able to be this strong, independent thinker without being the black sheep and

    Read More

  • Kurt Vonnegut's I Am The Doorway

    1480 Words  | 6 Pages

    Many authors have written science-fiction stories to warn people about future, including Kurt Vonnegut and Stephen King. Vonnegut has written several science fiction stories using dark humor and irony, for example, the short story, 2BR02B. In this short story, Vonnegut describes a society where there is no death and the population of the United States is stabilized at forty million souls by killing someone for each person born. Mr. Wehling, a soon to be a father of three, discovers the flaws in society as a result of the birth of his children, Mr. Wehling has to find volunteers that will sacrifice themselves for his children. In I am the Doorway, Stephen King uses his style of suspense and horror to warn the audience.

    Read More

  • The Search For Freedom In Toni Morrison's Song Of Solomon

    1108 Words  | 5 Pages

    Freedom is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. The search for freedom is exemplified in Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. One of the main protagonists, Macon has the ideology suggesting freedom relies on materialistic values. He teaches this idea to his son Milkman (the other protagonist), in which he learns throughout his encounters of life, that his father’s ideology of money being freedom is not what brings a prosperous life but himself going on his own journey experiencing his own enlightenment on life, so that he may have a personal understanding of freedom. Thus, the validity of “money is freedom” is not valid, due to understanding freedom can be subjective.

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass Argument Against Slavery

    442 Words  | 2 Pages

    ¨Freedom means you are unobstructed in living your life as you choose. Anything less is a form of slavery.¨ This is similar to Frederick Douglass because he lived his most of his life in slavery and then after slavery ended he chose to live his life the way he wanted. Frederick Douglass was an African American slave who wanted to abolish slavery after hearing the word abolish so many times. Douglass´s audience were many other African Americans who also said slavery was a bad thing. How slavery was bad for slaves and how it corrupts slave owners.

    Read More

  • Bartleby The Scrivener Rhetorical Analysis

    1125 Words  | 5 Pages

    The narrator hires Bartleby and doesn’t fire him when Bartleby refuses to do the work that the narrator asks him to do. The narrator’s first three words that describe Bartleby are “pallidly neat, pitiably respectful, incurable forlorn” (Melville par. 15). The narrator sees negative light from seeing Bartleby. The narrator starts to notice strange things about Bartleby: “he never spoke but to answer,” “never visited any refectory or eating house,” and “never went out for a walk” (Melville par. 92).

    Read More

  • Human And Savage Man Rousseau Analysis

    1005 Words  | 5 Pages

    Nature of Human and Savage Man Thomas Hobbes is a philosopher who wrote Leviathan and claims that men are equal when they were in natural condition. Jean Jack Rousseau is another philosopher who claims men are composed of two classes when the state was established: poor and rich. At first blush, Hobbes and Rousseau is appearing too different since they have been. Namely, However, equality causes evil in Hobbes ' theory. However, in Rousseau 's inequality, there is benevolence.

    Read More

  • Elie Wiesel's Inherit The Wind

    1007 Words  | 5 Pages

    “A single twig breaks, but the bundle of twigs is strong”. This quote was said by an esteemed chief of the Shawnee tribe,Tecumseh. This quote is not only used by tecumseh, but also represents the issue of individual versus society in the books Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee and Night by Elie Wiesel. The single stick represents the individual, who does not have the strength or power to overrule society. Society is represented by the bundle of stick, who has power and is strong because it has many people, sticks, apart of it.

    Read More

  • Herman Melville's Bartleby, The Scrivener

    1811 Words  | 8 Pages

    The message of course, is Melville’s artistic frustrations and hardships with himself and his publishers during the time of the story being published. The title character of Bartleby could

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Homosexuality In Herman Melville's Billy Budd

    1479 Words  | 6 Pages

    By using ambiguous language, Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, Sailor explains homosexuality and the issues the group had in society. It can be assumed that at least three of the Bellipotent’s crew were homosexual and other members of the crew knew this as well. Through the time period there was constant fear and persecution of homosexuals which led to the crewmen being silent in their justice just as homosexuals were silenced in their prosecutions by others. By using historical aspects, Melville has hidden under everyone’s nose the implications of homosexuality on the ship. Captain Vere is seen as a scholarly figure who keeps to himself until the end of the novella where he is forced into the conflict of a potential mutiny brewing.

    Read More

  • Want To Be Free, By H. L. Mencken

    819 Words  | 4 Pages

    The phrase, “The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe”, by H.L. Mencken, an American essayist and social critic, is an accurate and agreeable statement. What Mencken is trying to say here is that people in this society don’t really look for freedom to do whatever they want, instead they look for the feeling of safety because without safety you can’t live life to the fullest. What is freedom if you don’t feel safe? Mencken’s quote emphasizes the true meaning of safety and gets you thinking about what it would be life if we didn’t have that.

    Read More

  • The Harsh Reality In The Jungle By Upton Sinclair

    1013 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Harsh Reality Experiencing hardships will change people for the rest of their lives. It is easy to see in Chicago during the time of The Jungle. The people of Packingtown led hard lives; harder than one can imagine. In The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Jurgis and his family suffer and experience hardships; some of the most traumatic hardships include the poor working conditions, the swindling of immigrants, and the death of family members.

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of Bartleby The Scrivener By Herman Melville

    776 Words  | 4 Pages

    Critical Analysis The short story “Bartleby the Scrivener” by Herman Melville, showcases the protagonist, Bartleby, as a scrivener who is inundated with the demanding expectations of his job while being employed by an overbearing mercenary boss. Ultimately, Melville illustrates the protagonist’s sanity and moral value deteriorating as Bartleby begins to lose the will to live due to the stress that his job has created. Herman Melville (1819-1891) was born in New York City, New York. He is the third child out of eight.

    Read More

  • Essay On Civilization And Identity In Herman Melville's Typee

    901 Words  | 4 Pages

    Civilization and Identity in Herman Melville’s Typee ``How often is the term "savages" incorrectly applied! None really deserving of it were ever yet discovered by voyagers or by travelers. They have discovered heathens and barbarians, whom by horrible cruelties they have exasperated into savages.

    Read More

  • Herman Melville's Influence In Moby Dick

    886 Words  | 4 Pages

    Herman Melville’s background had a great impact in writing Moby Dick, specifically using events that happened in that period of time. Melville was born in New York City in 1819. Initially, his family was wealthy for some time until one year after Melville was born, they had to move to Albany trying to regain their fortune. Consequently, of so much work, his father, Allan Melville dies. When this occurs Melville needed to do a lot of changes in his life.

    Read More

More about What Does It Means To Be Human, By Herman Melville

Open Document