The Allure of Individualism

Abstract： Individualism plays a crucial role in American society. People pay much attention to it because they think it can best display their personalities. However， can they really live in accordance with their own rules， not taking full account of social rules？ An analysis of Bartleby， the Scrivener： A Story of Wall-street written by Herman Melville and Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer can find answers to these questions.

Keywords： Individualism； personality； Bartleby； Into the Wild

I. Introduction

As it is known that American values individualism highly.In Rousseau’s eyes， he holds that a form of ignorance and submission to one's passion instead of the preferred autonomy of reason can be called individualism. People can rely on it to live according to their own wills and do what they want to do without taking other people’s ideas and opinions into consideration. However， does individualism deserve to seek for， even if it means to sacrifice their lives， and are misunderstood by other people. The analysis of Bartleby， the Scrivener： A Story of Wall-street written by Herman Melville and Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer indicates what the meaning the two authors want to convey？

II. The Pursuit of a Non-conformist

In Bartleby， the Scrivener： A Story of Wall-street， Bartleby is a non-conformist. When his boss asks him to do the work， he always says that “I would prefer not to（Melville，8），” even if the work is done by him and need to proofread. It seems of course that he should continue to complete his work. Nevertheless， he doesn’t care. Then， his boss tries to reason with him. “These are your own copies we are about to examine. It is labor saving to you， because one examination will answer for your four papers. It is common usage. Every copyist is bound to help examine his copy. Is it not so？ Will you not speak？ Answer（Melville，9）！” Bartleby refuses to compromise. Thus， the lawyer has no option. He’d better to do his work without Bartleby’s participation.

In addition， Into the Wild， written by Jon Krakauer and filmed by Sean Penn， talks about a person， Christopher McCandless， the protagonist， who abandons everything he possesses to go to Alaska to enjoy his closeness to the nature， keeping a distance away from the noisy of the society. During the way to his destination， “he changed his name， burnt his money and ripped his person identification（Jon Krakauer， 3 ）.” However， the youthful extremist doesn’t care， for he wants to lead such a kind of life. And he says that he actually tries not to be found and he is going to be all the way out there， all the way fucking out there. Therefore， he goes on his journey， caring nothing about his family， even to make his mother and father sad.

Bartleby values individualism a lot. Individualism makes the individual its focus and so starts “with the fundamental premise that the human individual is of primary importance in the struggle for liberation（Wood，6）.” Both Bartleby and McCandless wants to be liberated from the society. Therefore， he is unwilling to be controlled by other people， even his boss. He holds the notion that it is enough for him to copy these documents. And how dreary to do the routine work. What’s more， Christopher McCandless is such a stubborn man. He decides to finish his journey to Alaska. He treasures his independent value and feel obliged to maintain his individuality. They want be non-conformists.

III. The Abandonment of Bartleby and McCandless

Why is Bartleby willing to be such an individual taking risk of sacrificing his life？ The story is known to happen at the wall-street， the center of the development of capitalism. In the industrial world， people must sell their labor to live at the expense of their freedom， but he refuses to do what his boss’ requirements. Thus， it leads his abandonment. Undoubtedly， Bartleby gradually cannot bear his boss’control. So， Bartle by feels that he is spied by his boss. He has no privacy. And his boss thinks that from this way， “privacy and society were conjoined （Melville，15）.” It is his wishful thinking. He dominates all these. Nonetheless， Bartleby is not afraid of this and he dares to rejects upper class’ control， even if he is at the lower class. So， he would not prefer to and stands in one of those “dead-wall reveries.” He needs to remain his individuality and has his reveries， not bothering doing his work. Individualism involves “the right of the individual to freedom and self-realization（Brown， 42）”. Thus， he always has his only one answer “ I would not prefer to.” Finally， his boss can do nothing but abandon him and he is sent to the Tombs as a vagrant.

On the other hand， when McCandless finally comes to Alaska， he is so excited that he can make fullest use of the nature to get his enjoyment. Here， the author portrays when McCandless realizes his dream to live in the wildness， he gradually feels a kind of loneliness. Without friends to talk and his family to care， he doesn’t feel so happy as he has thought. So， in the end he knows that “ happiness is only real when shared（Jon Krakauer， ）.” Thus， he decided to go back to the society， the human community. However， the blood is so torrential that he cannot go back. Finally， he suffers his individualistic suicide. He sacrifices his own life because of his willingness to be a independent person， alienating himself form the society and making others cannot find him. Therefore， What Krakauer wants us to know in the sad ending is that McCandless’ initial break with society is wrong.

From the above presented， it can be seen that what Melville and Jon Krakauer wants to express is that in today’s world， we are human beings and we cannot live without participating in society. If we remain individual away from our society， we may be punished by the social rules.

IV. Conclusion

To sum up， people should take account of social rules， for they are social human beings. They need to pay attention to other people’s suggestion. The two author best prove that though people want to remain their individuality， they should get balance between individual and society， or they will sacrifice their life and are kicked out of human society.

Bibliography

[1]Barnett， Louise K. Bartleby as Alienated Worker.Studies in Short Fiction 11， 1974： 379-395.

[2]Herman Melville. Bartelby， the Scriverner. A story of Wall Street[M]. Barteby press，2009，11，6.

[3]Krakauer， Jon. Into The Wild. New York： Anchor Books， 1996. eBook.

[4] Rousseau， Jean-Jacques. Discourse on the Origin of Inequality， part two[J] The Basic Political Writings， Hackett， p. 64