What I am working on
I chose the thesis: Bartleby is the hero of Melville's story in his refusal to participate in a workplace that represents the sad, dreary atmosphere of a bureaucratic, industrialized society. He is the only one standing up to society that is increasingly oppressive to workers.
While this was a hard choice for me because I wasn't quite grasping the whole idea of this essay to begin with, I just chose this thesis and kind of ran with it. I am use to choosing my own thesis or idea from reading a story, so to have it there for me and not necessarily agreeing with any of the choices was probably what made it so hard.
I didn't really feel Bartleby would be considered a hero in today's world by refusing to do work that he was being paid to do, however back in the 1800's things were much different than in today's world.
Bartleby is stuck in an area close to the employer with a window that has no view at all but did give some light. Within a few feet was a wall and the light came in from far above between two haughty structures. The employer put up a green folding screen to further isolate Bartleby from sight but not from being heard or hearing when his employer needed something. Bartleby has been put in a dreary location to do his work and unable to continue to do the work in the environment he refuses to endure. (Melville)
Melville, Herman. “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story
of Wall-street.” (1853)
Jan 28, 2013
<http://www.bartleby.com/129/>
I completely agree with you about how not being able to choose makes it more difficult. I also chose the hero thesis but didn't necessarily agree with it and the story being a little more difficult to understand doesn't help either. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteBoth you and Alexis are music to my metaphorical ears when you say that the thesis statements chosen for us made it a nightmare to write. I although did not choose this topic because I felt like it wasn't really that big of a deal to stand up to someone. You did make an important point when you said that it was back in the day when people didn't do anything of the sort and when choosing the other topic I had not thought about that or I might have chosen this topic just like you two.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of having the thesis sentences given to me instead of my own ideas either. I did find that once a commited to what I was going to write about, it became interesting how my perceptive of the story came into different light. I think, like you said, it's hard to think from the perceptive of someone that lived in that time compared to now. Good luck with your paper!
ReplyDeleteI agree that the time frame of the work gives the meaning a different perception. For someone to refuse to work such as Bartleby did is not that heroic or unusual by today's standards. People quit their jobs, refuse tasks they believe are "unfair" or simply wait util they are fired on account of their inaction. In the era of the story people did as they were told by their employers, period. Bartleby's refusal to work was a much bigger deal in his century than in ours.
ReplyDeleteI agree as well that it is hard when we have to pick and not chosse on our own. It feels like we must forsed our selfs to it instead of actual writing of what we know and understood from it. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteAlthough using a thesis statement that was chosen for us was difficult, I think there was also a lot to learn from it because we had to take the extra step to find evidence that supported something that we didn't necessarily think of initially. I am thinking about using the same thesis statement you chose, and I think I agree with it for the most part. Bartleby did exactly what he wanted to do and didn't take any crap from other people, which I think is making a bold statement. There are a lot of ways to argue for this thesis. Just out of curiosity, what would you have written about if the thesis was not assigned?
ReplyDeleteToni, good job on pushing forward with the assignment and good job again on choosing this particular thesis. I considered this thesis for a short time and could not really make anything come out of it for me. I struggled with developing some ideas from this thesis. I ended up going with the thesis that Bartleby was a fictional character as result of the narrator's breakdown. I also appreciated you sharing the struggles of being given a thesis that you had to work with to develop your essay. At first I also struggle with assignment and the thesis give, but eventually I gained some freedom in knowing that the thesis was chosen for me and at least I could not mess that up. So I think in the end we probably did ok.
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