A review by pandabearsfly
Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville

5.0

Loved this one. Honestly, I usually don't feel like my literary criticism is worth getting out into the world, but with this story, I had so many ideas. I wrote an essay comparing it to Thoreau's "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience," and though it was 10 pages, it came out so much easier than anything I've written for a while. The big question was this: Bartleby, man or machine?

I also love Melville's subtle quips about Turkey and Nippers, about comfortably wealthy men like the narrator. I really need to get to Moby Dick soon, though I know that's a very different *beast.* (Pun intended.)