Bartleby The Scrivener Soldier's Home Analysis

Loneliness and reluctance are themes depicted in all types of media, especially in literature. In “Bartleby the Scrivener,” a clerk suffers from his previous work at a dead letter office and disconnects himself from the world as he descends into insanity, while in “Soldier’s Home,” a young soldier returns war to find himself unable to re-enter normal society and exhibiting symptoms of PTSD. Both Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener” and Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home” explore the theme of isolation and the inability to act in their characters. “Bartleby the Scrivener,” set in nineteenth-century New York, tells the story of an elderly, unnamed lawyer who hires the strange and seemingly hard working Bartleby. At first, Bartleby works excellently, …show more content…
The lawyer is shocked and captivated by Bartleby’s responses, and he begins to monitor him closely. The lawyer finds Bartleby’s life to be entirely melancholy. Bartleby never seems to leave the office, meet with friends, or talk to anyone at all. Bartleby has completely isolated himself from society. In fact, the lawyer stops by his business one Sunday to discover Bartleby has been living in the office, which means he has most likely not left since his recruitment. Eventually, Bartleby’s hardworking attitude comes to an end when he tells the lawyer he will no longer write and begins to sit at his desk doing nothing all day. When the lawyer asks why he has stopped working, Bartleby indifferently replies, “Do you not see the reason for yourself?” Bartleby’s reply reflects the nihilistic thinking of a man who can no longer find a reason to live and is unable to act as he believes everything he does is insignificant. Bartleby’s somber …show more content…
Decades before the recognition of PTSD as a legitimate disorder, Hemingway illustrates Kreb’s inability to reestablish himself into society. Kreb has returned years after most others to find no one interested in his war stories. When he realizes that even his exaggerated lies interest no one, Krebs slowly disconnects himself. Since his return, Krebs does the same routine every day: he sleeps late, reads history books on the war, and walks around town. Krebs notes, “nothing was changed in the town except that the young girls had grown up.” The only thing to have dramatically changed is Krebs himself, a result of his experiences in the war. Though he is at home, it does not feel like home to him. Unable to return to his earlier life, Krebs chooses isolation instead. However, unlike Bartleby, Harold Krebs has not given up on life. He simply wants his life to go smoothly and without any conflicts. For example, when he sees women walking around the town, he likes the look of them, but he does not want to have to talk to them or get involved in the complexities of courtship. Worried for their son, Kreb’s parents express their concerns that he needs to find a job. They even offer him the car to take out one night. However, Krebs cannot find the incentive to start a new life on his own. When Krebs has an emotional confrontation with his mother over