One connection that Beja’s make to Liang’s theory is petrification “forms of anxiety encountered by the ontologically insecure person”. Laing’s theories pertaining schizophrenia, which states that mental illness was an escape mechanism that allowed individuals to free themselves from intolerable circumstances. This is symptomatic of a schizoid person.īeja’s analysis are based on R. Bartleby is “compulsively prone to repetitive acts or phrases” for example the phrase “I would prefer not to” (Melville, 2014). are also given as possible proof of Bartleby as a schizophrenic. Some symptoms like his motionlessness, his “dead-wall reveries” etc. Schizophrenia is a serious disorder, it is not clear how it develops, but scientists agree that genes, environment, and different brain chemistry and structure are factors in its development (Frith, 2015). He refuses to take in any nourishment and lives entirely on ginger nuts (Melville, 2014). This invoke image of an emaciated person. Melville uses these phrases such as “lean visage”, “cadaverously gentlemanly nonchalance”, to describe anorexics symptoms. lethargy, sluggishness, or feeling tired. Bartley manages to shield and barricade himself physically and psychologically.Īnorexics exhibit symptoms such as extremely restricted eating, extreme thinness (emaciation), brittle hair and nails, dry and yellowish skin. The walls which surround him give him a sense of place, if not identity, and there is a certain security in this. Apart from physical walls, identifies the psychological walls which Bartleby has erected to defend himself: “As long as he can stay in one place, he is content and quite literally ‘contained’. Agoraphobics avoid being out in public and prefer confined spaces whenever possible to shield themselves from these situations. This kind of behavior is evident in Bartleby – he prefers not to run any errands out of the office and in the latter parts of the story prefers not to move at all from his “hermitage” (Melville, 2014). “Agoraphobic fears typically involve characteristic clusters of situations that include being outside the home alone being in a crowd or standing in a line being on a bridge, and traveling in a bus, train, or automobile” (Bressert, 2017). The change in eating habits and what the narrator calls “all the quiet mysteries which I had noted in the man”, can be viewed as Bartleby depressive nature.Īgoraphobia and Anorexia Bartleby’s “propinquity to walls” can be a symptom of agoraphobic behavior. His eating habits changed and has no nutrition value, “He lives, then, on ginger-nuts, thought I never eats a dinner, properly speaking he must be a vegetarian then but no he never eats even vegetables, he eats nothing but ginger-nuts” (Melville, 2014). ” He losses interest in things he enjoyed doing like copying and spends most of the time staring at the wall outside his window. From the story Bartleby exhibits symptom of a deprived nature clearly described by the phrase “dead-wall reveries. Some of the symptoms associated with it are persistent sad, anxious, or empty’ mood, loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities appetite and/or weight changes (Baxter et al., 2014). These are signs associated with people suffering from mental illnesses.ĭepressionDepression is a disorder that is widely spread in today’s society. During the course of the story Bartleby’s condition worsens – he loses interest in doing his job, he does not want to leave the office and does not eat. This shows the society intolerance for people with disability, particularly for people suffering with depression and mental impairments. In Mitchell and Snyder’s Narrative Prosthesis, the phrase could be labeled a subconscious cry for help. He cleverly brings out the ignorance aspect of the society to recognize. This can be seen through his preferred phrase “I would prefer not ” (Melville, 2014). He exhibits several mental disorders such as depression, anorexia, agoraphobia, etc. Looking at the story, Bartleby may have developed his mental illness time as a clerk in the Dead Letter Office, a grim place where letters go to die. This paper will focus on the psychological interpretation as presented through the eyes of an ignorant narrator mental illness –Bartleby being an example of a mental illness. Herman Melville’s 1856 short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street”, presents the mentally troubled title character and it is hard to imagine the multitude of meanings it contains and the interpretations it inspires.
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