Levi FoxPage 109/27/2018
Turkey, Nippers, and Antebellum American Society:
Socio-Historical Character Representations in Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener
America in 1853 (when Herman Melville’s short story, Bartleby the Scrivener was first published) was already a heterogeneous land made up of immigrants from a myriad of foreign lands. Moreover, the country was filled with a number of different (for lack of a better term) socio-cultural ‘groups’ which had taken form in the years since the first permanent settlement was made almost 250 years before. Along with groups differentiated along sectional boundaries, certain changes in economics and market relations, which had swept the country in the years after the revolution, led to the emergence of additional groups. In Bartleby, Melville uses his five major characters (the narrator, Turkey, Nippers, Ginger Nut, and Bartleby) to represent these different groups and to comment (often quite subtly) upon these changes and upon the American cultural landscape which they were then a part of. By looking carefully at Melville’s character descriptions, the words and actions of these characters, and (to a certain extent) his use of time, the role of these characters as representatives (or perhaps representations) of specific groups within Antebellum American society can be examined and explicated.
All of the character representations in Bartleby are drawn in relation to one another, and can only be understood clearly in such a way. For all intents and purposes the character of the narrator can be taken to represent a ‘typical’ American. He is “a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best.” He is “a safe man” the furthest thing from a troublemaker that one could ask for whose “first grand point [is] prudence” and whose next was “method.” He is the rational product of the Enlightenment who came from the Middle Colonies during the Revolution and, with a cool head, worked to secure American independence. He is the “unambitious lawyer” of a great man, (John Jacob Astor) perhaps the most American of all professions playing the most American of all roles. Moreover, in the years leading up to the Civil War, he is representative (in contrast to the other characters) of those who wanted to compromise and preserve the union rather than go to war for ideological reasons. However, as he himself says, in this period he is “an elderly man” whose place and time are, perhaps, going by the wayside. In the men around him (who represent other socio-cultural groups) he sees other characteristics some of which (as can be expected given his role as the typical American) he admires, others he with which he finds fault. It is against the narrator as representation of the inheritor of this stable core of American values (and of the idea, ideal, and representation of the nation itself) that all of the other characters must be read.
The character of Turkey can be taken to represent the typical Southerner. He is described by the narrator as “a short, pursy, Englishman of about [the narrator’s] own age.” Given that the narrator represents the typical (middle colony moderate) American who worked for independence, this similarity in age makes sense, since both are representative of groups which have existed in America for a number of years. Melville’s characterization of him as pursy, “self-indulgent” and English, would seem to lend credence to the notion of Turkey as a Southerner given prevailing non-Southern notions about their habits as the way in which many Southerners self consciously attempted to imitate English gentlemen. Furthermore, the statement that Turkey “was a man whom prosperity harmed” because “it made him insolent” is a direct indictment of what was often looked at as the evils of too much (illgotten?) wealth (and too much economic disparity) in the South. However, Melville makes a particular point to indicate that Turkey (and Nippers as well) has diametrically different modes of behavior and temperament between the morning and the afternoon. "In the morning… his face was of a fine florid hue, but after twelve o’clock… it blazed like a grate full of Christmas coals.” While the narrator finds that Turkey’s “services in the mornings were useful” they are no longer needed in the afternoons. If we take morning and afternoon as representations of broader historical periods (and if we assume the “meridian- [Turkey’s] dinner hour,” represents the early national period, which (in a possible conflation of time) would be when both Turkey and the narrator were born) then these temperamental differences can be seen as corresponding to the shifting historical circumstances of Southerners. While the narrator (America as a whole) found Turkey (the South and Southerners) useful in the colonial period and during the revolution, now that this time has passed he is annoyed by Turkey’s manner and some of his actions.
The narrator’s anger at Turkey for his actions and temperament in the afternoon (the period between about 1795 and 1853) would seem to represent the national conflict over slavery and states rights that was going on throughout this period. “Not only would [Turkey] be reckless and sadly given to making blots in the afternoon, but some days he went further and was rather noisy.” These blots refer to the presence of African American slavery which Southerners encouraged and thrived upon while the noise which so bothers the narrator likely refers to Southern pro-slavery and states rights rhetoric which threatened the union. The role of the blots as representing slavery are further supported by a particular conflict between the narrator and Turkey. Though he values his service the narrator was preparing to fire Turkey (probably separate the union) because of the problems (of slavery especially) which he creates during the afternoon. Their exchange is filled with representations of historical circumstances. Turkey’s statement that he considers himself the narrator’s “right hand man” fits with the notion that many in the South still considered themselves allied with the North. The Southern conception of its history and destiny are apparent in Turkey’s statement that “in the morning I but marshal and deploy my columns; but in the afternoon I put myself at their head, and gallantly charge the foe.” These lines can be read as referring first to the pre-revolution role of the South in helping to sustain the American economy and then to the post-1800 expansion of Southern society and ‘conquering’ of the West. In response to the narrator’s issues regarding “the blots,” Turkey (in an appeal to the virtues of tradition) states that “old age- even if it blot the page- is honorable.” He further argues that both he and the narrator “are getting old’ an “appeal to [the narrator’s] fellow feeling [that] was hardly to be resisted.” This exchange can be seen to represent Southern appeals to a common history, appeals which moderate middle Northerners (which the narrator represents) could readily accept. Thus the character of Turkey represents Southerners and (especially) their changing historical temperaments. However, the fact that Turkey (like the narrator) is growing old also demonstrates how the Southern way of life is fading out during this period.
In contrast to the old and fading characters of the narrator and Turkey, is the person of Nippers, who represents Northerners (particularly New England and areas influenced and largely populate by this region). Nippers is “a whiskered, sallow, and, upon the whole, rather piratical-looking young man of about five and twenty.” This description of an acquisative go-getter on the make fits well for a representative of New England Yankee capitalists. Though “not deficient in a gentlemanly sort of way” Nippers “diseased ambition” led him into dealings with “certain ambiguous looking fellows in seedy coats.” As ready to characterize (and criticize) the North as the he is to the South, Meliville’s sketch of Nippers, as a representative of Northerners, gives the appearance of respectability while at the same time being driven by his ambition to engage in question dealings for the sake of profit. Furtheremore, he is “a very useful man to [the narrator] (America as a whole)” because of his economic efficiency as represented by his ability to write “a neat, swift hand.” Nippers becomes an even better representative of Northerners when the narrator states “that whatever might be his faults in other respects, [Nippers] was, at least, a temperate young man” for which “potations were needless.” Nippers this becomes identifiable with Northern reform movements (such as the temperance movement) lending further credence to his role as a Yankee representative. Moreover, in the case of Nippers, like in that of Turkey, temperamental shifts from morning to afternoon mirror macro-historical shifts in regional culture.
Nippers mood shifts are the reverse of Turkey’s; he has a certain “irritability and consequent nervousness” in the morning “while in the afternoon he [is] comparatively mild.” This shifting temperament works well as a representation of the differing ‘temperaments’ of New England before and after the late 18th century. Before this period, during the high tide of Puritanism, New Englanders often went to extremes (as seen in such incidents as the Salem Witch Trials and the sermons of Jonathan Edwards) as a result of their religious fervor. Indeed, just as Nippers in the morning “knew not what he wanted. Or, if he wanted any thing, it was to be ride of the scrivener’s table altogether,” New Englanders wanted to achieve a perfect society and became anxious and irritated when unable to do so. Nippers’ mildness in the afternoon mirrors the tempering of New England religious fervor that accompanied the decline of Puritanism and the rise of Unitarianism in the region in the period after 1800. His actions during this period (which includes the time when the story is set) also “reflected much credit upon [the narrator’s] chambers” indicating how this post-Puritan New England, with its industry, reform movements, and general good character, was the face displayed by America to the rest of the world. Moreover, the fact that Nipper’s age is given as 25 (rather than about 60, as Turkey and the narrator are) indicates that the group he represents is that which is on the rise at the time the story was written (which, given the success of New England’s industrial economy seems to fit well).
The characters of Bartleby and Ginger Nut also represent two emerging socio-cultural groups in American society in the antebellum period, both existing largely as a result of economic changes in society. While Bartleby represents the immigrant wage laborer, Ginger Nut can be seen as a personification of those who experienced a new social mobility as a result of economic changes. Bartleby came to work for the narrator “in answer to [his] advertisement” that he must “have additional help.” This can be read to represent the influx of immigration into America in the antebellum period, especially from places such as the German states and Ireland, in response to the growing American demand for labor. While Bartleby’s attitude towards work is far to complex a topic to delve into at this point, some of his actions are indicative of his role as representative of this group. Bartleby consents to perform certain tasks and performs them well, doing “an extraordinary quantity of writing.” However, when asked to “verify the accuracy of his copy, word by word” a skill-less job that is a “very dull, wearisome, and lethargic affair” he replies that he “would prefer not to.” His selective willingness to engage in work activities (and particularly his choice of which jobs he will do) lend support to the view of him as representing an immigrant wage laborer. During the antebellum period, capitalism was far less ingrained in Ireland and rural Germany than in America (or certain other parts of Europe), and many workers had to be skilled crafts people. Bartleby, as representative of this group, only consents to do the skilled part of his job, that of the actual writing (the ability to construct letters being a non-universal skill in many parts of Europe during this period) and refuses to do the rest.
While Bartleby (and the group he represents) were often far from happy about the economic changes taking place during this period, another group, represented by Ginger Nut. Ginger Nut is the most explicitly representative of Melville’s characters. As the son of a “carman, ambitious of seeing his son on the bench instead of a car, before he died” Ginger Nut represents what would become the American dream of generational socio-economic mobility. Furthermore, his father’s aspirations to have him become a judge, indicate the uniquely American way in which the low born might strive for social respectability, that of public political service. The economic changes taking place during this period (as well as the lack of distinct and static social classes) meant that, increasingly in practice, a farm boy could end up wealthy and respected. The narrator’s description of the boy as a quick-witted youth” for whom “the whole noble science of law was contained in a nut-shell” indicates how, in this new American society, intelligence and merit were to be recognized and rewarded. Moreover, the fact that he is the youngest of all these characters suggests that the group which Ginger Nut represents has the most future of all of these groups. In contrast, while Bartleby is also painted as a “young man” his further description as “motionless”, “sedate,” and “incurably forlorn” indicate that the future of the group he represents appears far less bright than that of Ginger Nut.
Herman Melville, though largely unappreciated in his own time, was one of the sharpest cultural critics of antebellum American society. This subtle yet penetrating criticism comes through strongly (if implicitly) in Bartleby, where Melville creates characters which represent different segments of society. In the case of Turkey and Nippers these groups are sectionally defined (as well as examined historically), while in the case of Bartleby and Ginger Nut, the groups exist as a result of economic changes that create skill-less jobs while, at the same time, promoting social mobility. In all four cases, however, the clerks, all viewed in relation to the narrator as representing American society as a whole and the ‘typical’ American, serve to portray different socio-cultural (and often conflicting) groups existent in antebellum American society.