Week 9 Project Action Plan: The Fight for Free Will in Bartleby the Scrivener


I am planning to answer the prompt "Think about a theme you see running through your life (failure is the best lesson, love is eternal, etc). Choose a reading that you think also discusses this theme (even if it reaches different conclusions about it). Explore connections between how the theme plays out in your life, and how the theme gets played out in the reading" using Herman Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener" as my reading of choice. 

 When reading the story, the theme of free will, struggling for control over your own life even if it means perishing in the end, resonated deeply with me. I grew up with very controlling and restrictive parents who had planned out my entire life for me. For most of my life, I kept my head down, simply doing what I was told because I didn't know what else to do. Having no control over my own fate made me feel trapped and miserable, and was slowly wearing me down day by day. Even when I turned 18 and was legally an adult who should have been making her own decisions, I still felt the weight of what my parents wanted me to do, so I went to the college they wanted me to attend majoring in the field they wanted me to study. 

 Much like Bartleby's snap seemed random and unprompted, so was mine. One day, I just couldn't continue living this way. I had my own "I would prefer not to" moment, where I just stopped everything. I didn't like the direction my life was heading in, so I planted my feet and wouldn't budge. The events from there diverge from the story, but there are still many parallels I could explore. Also, given that I am here typing this and not dead, Bartleby and I attained very different results to our stories. I'd like to explore how the theme of fighting for your own free will in the story is portrayed in a pessimistic and defeatist manner, while in my life it's turned out well so far. The element I intend to focus on most is the comparison of Bartleby himself, trying to dissect this mysteriously stubborn character and compare him to myself. However, the other characters in the story have their own role to play in the struggle for free will, so finding people in my life to compare and contrast them to could also be explored.

 Herman Meliville, "Bartleby the Scrivener" p. 293- 325

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