Comparison of Stories Paul's Case by Willa Cather and Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville - Assignment Example

Comparison and Contrast Essay College: Comparison and Contrast Essay For the analysis, the following two short stories have been chosen: "Pauls Case by Willa Cather and "Bartleby, the Scrivener" by Herman Melville. These two stories have been chosen due to the fact that to some extent they both deal with the problem of the person alienation in the society. Therefore, the subject of comparison and contrast in the essay is the protagonist isolation from the world and the people around them. Both of the main characters, Paul and Bartleby, live in their own realities and are actually isolated from the society but the character of this isolation is rather different.

To compare and contrast the nature of the characters isolation, their attitude towards the society and people around them as well as the societys attitude to them will be analyzed in the essay. Both characters, Bartleby and Paul, live in their own realities, and this is what they have in common. They both do not want to comply with the norms of the society they live in. Cather points to this fact directly in her short story: “It was the theatre at Carnegie Hall that Paul really lived; the rest was but a sleep and forgetting” (Cather, 2014).

In other words, Paul feels he does not belong to the society he is forced to live in and tries to replace it with the world of theater. Bartleby, in his turn, seems to be outwardly, and sometimes the author’s descriptions of this character suggest that the scrivener is dead. For instance, Melville uses the words “pale” and “dead” while he writes about Bartleby for eleven and ten time correspondingly. Still, the characters’ attitudes toward the society they live in differ greatly.

Paul is lonely but he tries to find his place in the world. He communicates with those who surround him even though in the majority of cases he despises people and thinks they are narrow-minded. Also, he lies to people, mocks at them, and tries to impress them. In other words, he does have some kind of relationship with those who surround him. Bartleby, however, does not want to maintain contact with people; he is not interested in others and their attitude to him at all. Instead, he creates his own world to live in: “Meanwhile Bartleby sat in his hermitage, oblivious to everything but his only business here” (Melville, 2012).

In addition to this, the author usually refers to the place where the scrivener sits and works as “dead brick wall” and “dead-wall reverie”. These examples show that Bartleby creates a “shield” between himself and the world. Despite the differences, partly it is the character’s attitude to the society that encourages isolation. The characters are also treated differently by those who surround them. From the body of the short story, it follows that Paul is very lonely and seeks interaction with people but does not know how to express what he thinks and feels properly.

Perhaps, because of this he also feels alienated. This feeling is also enhanced by the attitude of the society towards him. One of the brightest examples is how Paul’s father treats his son. Even though the narrator does not describe this directly, it is obvious that father’s attitude towards his son is the same as that one of the society. It is seen from the passage in which Cather describes how Paul hides while at home and thinks he father would regret that he had not shot his son dead (Cather, 2014).

Bartleby isolates himself from the world to such an extent that he does not give other people an opportunity to interact with him. He eats and lives at his workplace and seeks loneliness even though his coworkers try to communicate with him. The narrator seems troubled with Bartleby’s isolation but cannot get the scrivener’s attention. Both “Paul’s Case” and “Bartleby, the Scrivener” are short stories about a person’s isolation from the society. However, the character of isolation of Paul and Bartleby are different.

Paul seems to seek interaction with other people but does not get a response. Bartleby does the opposite thing: he isolates himself from the world and does not give any opportunity for other people to come closer to him. Such different types of isolation described in the pieces show that it is both a person and the society that are responsible for alienation. References: Cather, W. (2014, May). Pauls case. Retrieved from http://cather.unl.edu/ss006.html Melville, H. (2012). Bartleby, the scrivener.

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