The narrator’s act of charity – in this case, giving Turkey one of his coats – accommodates the narrator’s desire to avoid confrontation and reveals an ulterior motive to the narrator’s benevolence. Instead of confronting Turkey about the unprofessionalism of his attire, the narrator gives Turkey “a highly-respectable looking coat of own” (8). Thus, while the narrator at once portrays himself as sensible to the circumstances of others, he also discredits his own complaint and thereby the need for its redressal. He excuses Turkey’s habiliments, however, by recognizing that Turkey likely could not afford any better than what he had (8). The narrator reveals that he finds Turkey’s attire inappropriate – Turkey’s coats, “execrable” (8). Though meekness and benevolence are not mutually exclusive, Melville demonstrates charity’s tendency to elucidate the internal needs and desires of the donor rather than those of the recipient of charity.Įxamples of the narrator’s charity reside in material culture as well – these elements further suggest the narrator’s internal motivations. The narrator’s decision to continue employing Turkey, which he purports is one of sympathy and understanding, is also motivated by his non-confrontational, passive character. In his indirect attempt to confront Turkey about his unprofitable tendencies, the narrator declares himself “a man of peace” (6) in his self-delivered introduction of himself, he claims that others consider him an “eminently safe man” (4). However, the narrator’s resolve to inaction also insinuates another feature of his character: non-confrontationalism and meekness. By demonstrating sympathy for Turkey, founded on the premise of their mutual increasing age and the changes to productivity that it produces, the narrator suggests a charitable inclination his decision to continue employing Turkey despite his insufficiencies is based on said inclination. The narrator thus justifies his resolve to “not lose” Turkey’s “morning services” (6) or, in other words, not actively demand that any change be made. Instead of demanding that Turkey find a remedy for his afternoon condition or firing him outright, the narrator expresses pity for his aging employee (5) and attempts to subvert his problematic characterization of Turkey by stating that he is “a most valuable person to me…before twelve o’clock” (6). In explaining Turkey’s nickname, the narrator reveals that Turkey is afflicted with a peculiarity which makes his face “blaze like a grate full of Christmas coals” at and ensuing “twelve o’clock, meridian” with the effect of his “business capacities seriously disturbed for the remainder of the twenty-four hours” (Melville 5). Through these narrative strategies Melville comments on the self-gratifying element of charity that reveals the donor’s interiority the indulgence of the donor’s interior desires demonstrates a disconnect between the giver and receiver of charitable acts.Īside from Bartleby, the narrator makes his most auspicious claim of charity in relation to one of his long-term employees, Turkey. This unconscious rendering of the self through charity suggests broader implications of the act. Features of the narrator’s interiority are procured through his demonstration of charity towards his employees, Turkey and Bartleby. The first-person narrator of “Bartleby, the Scrivener”-a Wall Street lawyer-identifies charity as a significant factor in his interpersonal relationships.
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