camparing stories
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Often in literature two totally different authors who have never interacted with one another display similar worldviews. Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne are linked by their equivalent views of the world. Melville and Hawthorne both incorporate the idea of isolation from society in their stories of "Rappaccini's Daughter" and "Bartleby the Scrivener" to comment on the human spirit.
Melville uses the character of Bartleby to express a hopeless and pessimistic view of society in his story "Bartleby the Scrivener." On his own accord Bartleby chooses to isolate himself from the outside world by staying in the Lawyer's office all day and refusing to leave. In a way this portrays the Lawyer's office as being Bartleby's personal prison. Bartleby never makes a conscious attempt to improve his defunct life, but he instead gives up hope and resigns himself to an awful existence. His hopelessness eventually ends his life. Melville uses the character of Bartleby in his story to suggest that the word is a cold and uncaring place. Melville creates the idea that one man cannot change today's evil society, and his hopeless attempts are all in vain...