Response to A Modest Proposal

Here are some of my thoughts on the piece we read this week:

ADVERTISEMENT RHETORIC

AMERICAN BEAUTY by the GRATEFUL DEAD promo ad

AMERICAN BEAUTY PROMO AD=-- This is an ad that is definitely effective for its primary audience of deadheads, like myself.  The makeup of this ad may not be universally appealing to all audiences, but is very much so for deadheads or people that are familiar with the group.  There are some references in which only big fans would get, but it also uses a humorous tone in order to hopefully appeal to other listeners as well.  Overall it is a very unique type of commercial that would likely stick out to whoever’s listening, which is exactly what advertisers aim for.  Therefor it is my opinion that this is a very effective advertisement.  The album American Beauty has reached double platinum, so obviously there is a great deal of album popularity either way.  

Burden of Bartleby ROUGH DRAFT

Hey classmates.  Here is a start to my first essay----

The Burden of Bartleby

            Oftentimes things aren’t always as they seem.  This certainly rings true in the case of Henry Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street.  It is about struggles with a character named Bartleby, whose ghostly presence in the story is the result of a breakdown of the narrator’s mind. In fact, Bartleby does not exist at all as an actual scrivener, but instead represents a part of the narrator that he wishes to repress in order to become a more effective and industrious worker.

            Being a more effective and industrious worker is what the narrator struggles with the entire story.  Prior to explaining about Bartleby, the character whom the story is written, the narrator talks about his other negligent employees. His two other scriveners together basically only make up one functioning employee.  The narrator describes their habits as, “I never had to do with their eccentricities at one time. Their fits relieved each other like guards” (par. 13). One is only a good employee until twelve o’clock, while the second scrivener is only effective after twelve.  Yet he finds excuse to keep them around.  The two will not leave, and have been with him before Bartleby came along.  This proves to be immensely important, because it shows his need for a new employee due to how ineffective his previous ones were. 

               It then becomes Bartleby’s burden to fill the role of new employee.  He is the narrator’s way of making himself become a better worker, but the plan backfires.  His own mind sabotages him in a way by tricking him into doing way more work than is needed, when in reality he could have simply gotten competent workers in the first place.  It is just one of the examples of how the narrator is a not a good problem solver.  His very first issue that he mishandled was keeping his other two scriveners employed.  It would have made his life a ton easier, if he were to simply replace them with two fully functioning employees.  That would cut his workload way down, and make it so he doesn’t feel the need to hire another scrivener just to pick up their slack.  By not solving that first problem correctly, he creates yet another problem for himself by “hiring” Bartleby.  This eventually proves to make things even worse for himself, because of how insubordinate of an employee he turns out to be.  He then ends up trying to repress Bartleby, because he isn’t an effective or industrious worker.  Of course, he goes about doing this in all the wrong ways as well. Even though he expresses his great annoyance of Bartleby’s ways, he still finds room to reason with, or “help,” him.  After he realizes Bartleby cannot be reasoned with, he tries different angles such as bribing or relocating Bartleby to get rid of this problem.  It should also cross the narrator’s mind at some point that perhaps Bartleby is suffering from some kind of mental disorder.  In this case the correct solution to this problem would be to try options such as taking him to a counselor or doctor.  The fact that he never does any of this is further evidence that Bartleby does not exist at all. In reality, the narrator self-inflicts a large burden by imagining Bartleby. The narrator indeed does succeed in making himself be a more effective and industrious worker by bringing Bartleby around, but at the cost of making things way harder on himself than is necessary.  

            It says a lot that the very first words that the narrator speaks are, “I AM a rather elderly man” This serves as a bit of a warning or foreshadowing that the narrator might not be all there mentally.  Although he must have been younger in the story he tells of Bartleby, he may be not remembering past events quite correctly due to his old age.  There are points in the short story where other characters interact with Bartleby.  Upon first glance, this would make it seem as though Bartleby couldn’t have been a figment of the narrator’s imagination.  Due to his elderly age, however, his recollection is likely less than perfect.  It would make sense that these interactions could have just been conjured up later on in order to further the believability of Bartleby’s existence.  If there were no interactions between Bartleby and anyone other than the narrator, then it would be much more obvious that Bartleby is imaginary.  This would prove to be a less powerful motivator for the narrator to be more industrious, so it makes sense that he would want to build Bartleby up to be as real as possible. 

Bartleby analyzation

“With any other man I should have flown outright into a dreadful passion, scorned all further words, and thrust him ignominiously from my presence. But there was something about Bartleby that not only strangely disarmed me, but in a wonderful manner touched and disconcerted me. I began to reason with him” (Melville 35).  This statement by the narrator of Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street, written by Henry Melville, sets an early tone for the way he is a big time enabler.  The narrator never seems to fully understand or be able to fix problems with certain people in his life; he instead makes excuses and lets others walk all over him.  His two other scriveners together basically only make up one functioning employee, yet he finds excuse to keep them around.  He expresses how he is clearly greatly annoyed by Bartleby’s ways, yet he still finds room to reason with, or “help,” him.  Bartleby is clearly suffering from some sort of mental disorder, but the narrator does nothing to truly help him, such as take him to a counselor or doctor.  He instead tries to do things such as bribe or relocate Bartleby as a cure.  To be fair, it is likely not completely the narrators fault for his ignorance.  He is a mere product of the time period in which he lived, where people weren’t nearly as aware of mental health problems as we are today.  Also, in fairness, the narrator really does (feebly) try to dismiss his employees due to their shaky performances.  With that being said; he still let Bartleby, as well as Turkey and Nippers, stick around entirely too long for their own good.  This allows them to continue their unproductive ways, which isn’t healthy or good for anyone.  He clearly admits in my opening quote, as well as many times throughout the story, that there is plenty valid reason to get rid of them.  For some reason he doesn’t have it in him to let people go. This in turn enables them to continue in their ways, instead of forcing the people to change, which would actually be the best help he could give them. 

For more  information on why I view his enabling to be so serious, visit: http://www.lclpa.org/denial-and-enabling/the-dangers-of-enabling/