Title hunter attorney who establishes prior claims on property. Spitzenbergs strong-flavored red and yellow apples common to the New York area.Ĭonveyancer attorney who prepares documents to facilitate the transfer of property a real estate lawyer. The Tombs nickname for a New York City prison. Sand-box container holding sand which is sprinkled to blot up excess ink.īoxing his papers evening the edges of a stack of papers by tamping them into place. Wall Street Dating from a Dutch settlement, a walled street in New York City, reaching from Broadway to the East River and currently comprising the financial nerve center of the United States.Ĭannel coal bituminous coal, which burns with a bright flame.Īnthracite a hard, slow-burning form of coal. Master in Chancery chief clerk of the court of equity. John Jacob Astor (1763-1848) American entrepreneur who amassed a fortune in the fur trade. The setting, an integral unit of the financial center of the United States, is actually Melville's own childhood neighborhood and also the general location of the Custom House, where he spent the last years of public service until his retirement. This motif of duality suggests the complementary nature of human beings, who must accommodate both points of view in order to comprehend life fully. Like yin and yang, the two form the necessary dichotomy of clerical worker and professional, just as Turkey and Nippers offset each other's propensities and idiosyncrasies. Throughout this story, the limited first-person point of view of the narrator reveals more of his own values and motivation than those of Bartleby, whom he never fully appreciates or comprehends. Bartleby's nook overlooks a blank wall three feet from the window. Upon hiring Bartleby, the narrator retains him on his side of a glass folding door, which separates him from the three other employees. Employing two copyists and an office boy, the lawyer finds his business grown to the point of needing an additional copyist. Located on Wall Street and serving as Master in Chancery, the speaker occupies a second floor office that looks out on two walls - one white and the other grimy black. A regular employer of law-copyists over a thirty-year period, the elderly and conservative narrator, who remains unnamed, reports on a singular young man who once worked as a scrivener in his law office, which specializes in legal paperwork, notably bonds, mortgages, and title-deeds.
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