The Use of Symbols in American Literature - Book Report/Review Example

Saniya Varkhandkar Academia Research Assignment 30 May 2007 Comparison of the Use of Symbols in Young Goodman Brown and Bartleby, the Scrivener Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville are stories which strongly comment on humanity. The stories underline the need for compassion which seems to be lacking among mankind. In order to illustrate this both th stories make use of symbols. In bartleby the character of bartleby acts as the narrator's double and reveals the modern man's inability to help humanity. On the other hand Goodman delves into his unconscious to come to terms with the evil in the society which makes him loathe mankind. In Young Goodman Brown and Bartleby, the Scrivener the protagonists live in a state of bliss or ignorance before coming to terms with reality. In Bartleby, the Scrivener the protagonist has no idea how the modern business life is affecting him. The narrator's self characterization is symbolic of how the modern man adapts himself to the business world. The financial security is all that matters to him. It makes him emotionally vapid. The office is another symbol to state this emptiness. The office is very depressing: "Wall-street. At one end they looked upon the white wall of the interior of a spacious sky-light shaft, penetrating the building from top to bottom my windows commanded an unobstructed view of a lofty brick wall, black by age and everlasting shade;" (Herman Melville) The ambiance of Wall Street is bleak. There are no living things around. At night there are no people and the work environment is gloomy. "Wall-street is deserted as Petra and every night of every day it is emptiness." (Herman Melville) This modern life makes it unable for a man to connect with other human beings. However the narrator does not realize this until bartleby comes to his office. Bartleby acts as the narrator's double in the story. To make this evident b is described in ghostly terms. This ghost is actually the narrator's phantom double. He looks ghostlike and dead, shows no human passion and works constantly. This underlines the narrator's emotional vapiditiy. But unlike the narrator who adapts himself to the business world. Bartleby is exhausted. His famous statement "I would prefer not to" is not an act of defiance. Rather it symbolizes his exhaustion. Similarly in Young Goodman Brown, Goodman and Faith symbolize a life of purity and innocence. It states their faith in the world. The names of the characters are very symbolic. Goodman's marriage to Faith symbolizes that he clings to the faith in goodness. When he tells his companion in the woods that "Faith kept me back" he symbolizes his unwillingness to delve into the evil ways of the world. It shows that his conscious is still holding him back from embracing the evil ways. However he does go into the forest which symbolizes his urge to confront reality. But he has no idea what he would find in the forest. Once the protagonists face the reality they undergo a change. In Bartleby, the Scrivener the narrator slowly begins to realize the parallels between their lives: "Before, I had never experienced aught but a not unpleasing sadness. The bond of a common humanity now drew me irresistibly to gloom. A fraternal melancholy! For both I and Bartleby were sons of Adam". Bartleby's plight draws the narrator into depths of feeling that he did not know he was capable of. Part of Bartleby's power over the narrator is that he somehow sees Bartleby as a part of himself. The narrator, at different times, wants to help Bartleby.As a result he feels pity for Bartleby. Similarly in Young Goodman Brown, the protagonists' journey through the woods becomes a symbol of his journey into the unconscious. The darkness and evil symbolize the evils lurking in the forest. The forest is a very real symbol of the test of strength, courage, and endurance; it took courage to survive in the forest, and a young person entering this forest would not emerge the same. "It was all as lonely as could be; and there is this peculiarity in such a solitude, that the traveller knows not who may be concealed by the innumerable trunks and the thick boughs overhead; so that with lonely footsteps he may yet be passing through an unseen multitude." (Nathaniel Hawthorne) Many symbols help the protagonist Goodman Brown move toward a vision of evil. In the forest Goodman meets his companion who symbolizes devil. His walking staff is described as having "the likeness of a great black snake" The snake "might also be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a live serpent". The snake-like appearance of the staff symbolizes the treacherous character of Brown's companion. The snake appearing to be alive symbolizes that the devil, with his staff, is already preying on Brown. Brown objects to holding his staff shows his reluctance to succumb to the evil in the world. Goodman tells his companion that he does not wish to go ahead as he comes from a respectable family. For Goodman his father is a symbol of a good Christian man. But the devil tells him that he was well acquainted with his family. He explains that the brutal acts they committed in the name of God were in fact the work of the devil. "I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker woman so smartly through the streets of Salem; and it was I that brought your father a pitch-pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village, in King Philip's war. They were my good friends, both;" (Nathaniel Hawthorne) This is symbolic of the fact that his father is a person who embodied evil. The devil further tells him that he is acquainted with a number of people of new England. He learns that Goody Cloyse is a person who accepts evil because she tells the devil that she is ready for the meeting. She screams, "The devil!" when touched by the devil's staff, suggesting that she is under the devil's control. Both the minister and Deacon Gookin are heading to the meeting with the devil. Brown learns that, like his fathers, Goody Cloyse, the minister, and Deacon Gookin also symbolize people who embody the evil present in his world. The light of heaven does not shine upon these two figures, for they have chosen to walk in the darkness of sin. Alone again, Brown looks up to heaven to pray, but soon finds his view obscured by a black cloud which seems to contain the voices of many sinners: "Aloft in the air, as if from the depths of the cloud, came a confused and doubtful sound of voices" (Nathaniel Hawthorne) Further when Goodman accepts the newly made staff from the devil it symbolizes his acceptance of the evil. When the protagonists come to terms with reality they realize that they are unable to provide any succor to the humanity. In Bartleby, the Scrivene,r after a point the narrator's pity becomes revulsion, and he defends the transformation: "They err who would assert that invariably this is owing to the inherent selfishness of the human heart. It rather proceeds from a certain hopelessness of remedying excessive and organic ill" (Herman Melville) This change from pity to revulsion is symbolic of a man's inability to connect with the other. Further the narrator's resolve to help him weakens and he shifts to a modern office which is again symbolic of how modern life detaches individuals. Though the narrator offers help to bartleby in every possible way, he has to finally abandon bartleby. This is a comment on humanity. The narrator acts in a way any other person is expected to do so in the modern world. He finally concludes on a note of sadness. "Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!" (Herman Melville) He understands his inability to alter the human condition. In Young Goodman Brown, the protagonist sees the pink ribbon falling from the sky which symbolizes his loss in the faith of the world. The pink ribbons symbolize his wife's youth and innocence, and Faith in turn symbolizes her husband's childlike spirituality at the beginning of the story. Faith not only suggests his loss of wife but also the loss of goodness. The scene of devil worship confirms his final acceptance of the evil world. In the forest he finds the sinful natures of his father, grandfather, church, and his wife. This experience changes him entirely. He becomes a bitter man who despises humanity. He is not open enough to acknowledge that human beings err and should be treated with compassion. Thus it is seen that in both the stories the use of symbols bring forth very strongly the miserable condition of human beings. Works Cited Melville, Herman, 1819-1891: Bartleby, the Scrivener 1993. 30 May 2007. Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 . Young Goodman Brown 1999. 30 May 2007. Read More