Bartleby more than a little luny

                                        See page for author [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

                             “"I think, sir, he's a little luny," replied Ginger Nut with a grin”(22).

• This passage pretty much summed up exactly how I feel about the Bartleby character, I could hear this quote every time the story focused heavily on Bartleby's actions. The twelve year old errand boy Ginger Nut has a better grasp on the mental capacities of the grim Bartleby than the narrator. The other characters are well defined and lively, a stark contrast to the lifeless titular scrivener. While the descriptions of the other characters lead one to believe they are also a bit looney, their eccentric qualities pale in comparison to the growing malaise of Bartleby. The story begins with a humorous and lively tone and spirals into despair and darkness after the appearance of Bartleby. Bartleby is a leach that sucks the life and joy out of the complacent narrator. The depressing demeanor of Bartleby is as infectous as his catchphrase “prefer”. As the other men begin to unconsciously quote him while performing their daily tasks the color of their character begins to melt away and the only focus is of the charitable narrator’s inability to deal with this negative force that has invaded his life. The narrator who tries in several ways to help this miserable character, seems to realize that there is clearly something wrong with this man but can’t understand that his mind works in such a vastly different way than his own. Bartleby sees futility in copying the documents that will surely end up at the position he once held at the dead letters department. The narrator realizes this connection after Bartleby has taken his own life and finally understands that Bartleby refused to alter his position because in his mind he was fully aware of where he would end up.

  
  

  

  By Moses King (King's handbook of New York City, 2nd ed. 1893) [Public domain], via    Wikimedia Commons
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Learning more about Herman Melville and the time he lived in can help understand quite a bit about Bartleby the Scrivener. This link is a pretty in depth look at the life and works of Melville.
                       http://www.melville.org/
  
  
  

  If you were wondering about the Colt and Adams characters that the narrator mentions in the story give the following link a click. It is a very interesting tale of a notorious murder that happened several years before Bartleby the Scrivener was published.

  
  
  
  
          The Corpse in the Shipping Crate
  
  

The joy of explosions, explaining summary vs. analysis

                                     By U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 2nd Class Aaron Peterson. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Many of the best things in life involve explosions. Some even say Life itself was caused by an explosion. When a violent reaction happens between certain chemicals heat, noise and pressure is released. When driving a car a steady stream of explosions is creating the mechanical force that pushes the vehicle forward. A summary of an explosion is a pretty dull affair. There was a deafening boom and a blinding light a forceful wave of heat could be felt rushing by. But analyzing an explosion can be extremely fascinating. There is no question that an explosion happened but there are numerous questions around why the explosion happened. Was it a natural occurrence? Was it an accident? Was it intentional? What caused it? Who caused it? Where did it start?  The possibilities are nearly endless.

When asked to summarize something, all that is required is a person’s memory of a specific event or thing. If a group of people were to describe the same explosion odds are the descriptions will all be pretty similar, the main differences will be perspective. If the same group were asked to scrutinize the explosion the likelihood of getting a similar answer is greatly reduced. Investigation, speculation and reflection of the event are not required for a summary. Searching for the reason behind an event could lead down many varying paths; the primary difference between which path is taken depends entirely on the searcher.

 If your fancy has been tickled and you would like to read more about explosions, give this link a click. http://www.groundzerofx.com/explosions.htm

By NASA (NASA) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

By The High Fin Sperm Whale (Self-taken photo) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

           

Blog Post #1 (Creative name isn't it.)

What does Nabokov think makes a good reader? Do you agree? What do you believe are the characteristics of a good reader? Do you consider yourself a good reader?

                What makes a good reader? This is not a question I have asked or given a moment of thought to. I know how to decipher the text on the page and I understand most of the stories I have read. Nabokov has tried to answer this question in “Good Readers and Good Writers”. He has a list of ten definitions that he asked students to choose four of.  The four definitions he suggests have to do with memory, imagination, artistic sense and a dictionary.  

                I can understand how a dictionary and good memory might come in handy, but do you need an imagination or artistic sense to be a good reader? Artistic sense is such a wide and varied thing from person to person. Knowing what you like and what you don’t is what I think of when I hear ‘artistic sense’. Maybe I should look it up in the required good reader dictionary. On the other hand imagination is something I always thought of as the ability to materialize things from nothing. Nabokov uses the word ‘enchanter’ to describe a good writer. If a reader has a good imagination would this make them a conjurer with the ability to release whatever enchantment the writer has laid down on the pages?  

                I really don’t consider myself a good reader. I am not swimming in a pile of books at the moment, I don’t have a library card and I haven’t read many of the books considered classics. But according to Nabokov I have all the right stuff except for that pesky dictionary.

Introductory Video