Read Herman Melville Biography: .virginia.edu/~hyper/bb/hm_bio.html”>http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/bb/hm_bio.html
Assignment: Explain what you learned about
Melville’s biography. Did you notice anything in his life experiences that
might influence your understanding of the story? (200 words)
Read video to Melville & Bartleby:.be/RB4b2lHPFT0″>http://youtu.be/RB4b2lHPFT0
Assignment: How did the professor in the
“Introduction to Melville & Bartleby” video interpret the story?
Do you agree or disagree with her? (200 words)
Read Annotated “Bartleby” :.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/bartleby/”>http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/bartleby/
Assignment: Read it and check out the notes in hyper
links. What was the most interesting note you read in the annotated
“Bartleby”? Explain why it was interesting to you. (200 words)
Answer the study questions (200 words)
1. How does the lawyer’s description of himself
serve to characterize him? Why is it
significant that he is a lawyer? Are his understandings and judgments about
Bartleby and himself always sound?
2. Why do you think Turkey, Nippers, and Ginger Nut
are introduced to the reader before Bartleby?
3. Describe Bartleby’s physical characteristics. How
is his physical description a foreshadowing of what happens to him?
4. How does Bartleby’s “I would prefer not to”
affect the routine of the lawyer and his employees?
5. What is the significance of the subtitle: “A Story
of Wall Street”?
6. Who is the protagonist? Whose story is it?
7. Does the lawyer change during the story? Does
Bartleby? Who is the antagonist?
8. What motivates Bartleby’s behavior? Why do you
think Melville withholds the information about the Dead Letter Office until the
end of the story? Does this background adequately explain Bartleby?
9. Does Bartleby have any lasting impact on the
lawyer?
10. Do you think Melville sympathizes more with
Bartleby or with the lawyer?
11. Describe the lawyer’s changing attitudes toward
Bartleby.
12. Consider how this story could be regarded as a
kind of protest with nonnegotiable demands.
13. Discuss the story’s humor and how it affects
your response to Bartleby.
14. Trace your emotional reaction to Bartleby as he
is revealed in the story.
15.
Read
another article “A Sorrowful Woman”. (.t-mac.net/short_stories/sorrowful.htm”>http://www.t-mac.net/short_stories/sorrowful.htm) Compare Bartleby’s
withdrawal from life with that of the protagonist in Gail Godwin’s “A Sorrowful
Woman” . Why does each character choose death?
Total 2 pages and single spaced
