Theme in Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener”: Behind the Walls of Silence “Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!” says narrator at the end of the story (Melville 140). What is humanity in today’s society? Is that just another phrase that has no real meaning, or is it something that we used to have? Isolation from humanity, and alienation from ourselves inevitably leads to destruction of personality and finally to devastation of our physical being. Alienation and destruction …showed first 75 words of 728 total…

…showed last 75 words of 728 total…struggle between Bartleby and the lawyer, or is it better to state, between the walls of silence and the walls of non-understanding? The actions shown in the story represent more of the spiritual struggle than a struggle on a level of physical existence. The alienation is on the mental level more than on any other level. The walls of silence are actually the terror of limitation and only the scream of humanity can conquer them.