...seemed, wherein, by some strange magic, through the clefts, grass-seed, dropped by birds, had sprung. Strangely huddled at the base of the walL his knees...lying on his side, his head touching the cold stones, 1 saw the wasted Bartleby. But nothing stirred. I paused, then went close up to him, stooped over,...

...sanctuary of his dubious ignorance. Returning for a second visit, the lawyer finds Bartleby dead — "strangely huddled at the base of the wall, his knees...lying on his side, his head touching the cold stones" ("B," 45). Bartleby 's fetal position, his head touching the stone wall of his prison, and, in broader...

...seemed, wherein, by some strange magic, through the clefts, grass,seed, dropped by birds, had sprung. Strangely huddled at the base of the wall, his knees...profoundly sleeping. Something prompted me to touch him. l felt his hand, when a tingling shiver ran up my arm and down my spine to my feet. The round face...

...used for his baby son, Malcolm 41 —regresses phylogenetically and ontogenetically. Aptly, he dies "strangely huddled at the base of the wall, his knees drawn up, and lying on his side" (44)—in a fetal position. He sleeps "with kings and counsellors" (45), a reference to that chapter...

...and lymg on his side, his head tonchmg the cold stones, I saw the wasted Batdeby. But nothmg stitred. I paused; then went close up to him; stooped over,...dim eyes were open; otherwise he seemed profoundly sleepmg. Somethmg prompted me to tonch him. I felt his hand, when a tmglmg shiver ran up my atm and...

...little luny." Bartleby slowly slides downhill mentally and finally comes to rest in jail as a vagrant, "strangely huddled at the base of the wall, his knees...lying on his side, his head touching the cold stones." Critics have suggested that Bartleby may have been patterned after Melville's boyhood friend Eli James...

...Letter office . . . the bar that leaves me a virtual sham BL BACKFIRE II Melville's (Un)flinching Faith Strangely huddled at the base of the wall, his knees...touching the cold stones, I saw the wasted Bartleby. Herman Melville, "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street" Before beginning to trace a literary...

...becomes the very image of the narrator's conflicted desire. Bartleby's regression to his final position "at the base of the wall, his knees drawn up, and lying on his side" (45) — fetus in the womb — has been the narrator's long-standing fantasy. He wanted to "know" where...

...grass-seed, dropped by birds, had sprung." Then the lawyer catches sight of the "wasted" Bartleby, "strangely huddled at the base of the wall, his knees...lying on his side, his head touching the cold stones" - in the typical position of a fetus, a yet non-actualized possibility of a human being. The lawyer...

...seemed, wherein, by some strange magic, through the clefts, grass-seed, dropped by birds, had sprung. Strangely huddled at the base of the wall, his knees...went close up to him; stooped over, and saw that his dun eyes were open; otherwise he seemed profoundly sleeping. Something prompted me to touch him. I...