. There is a certain streak of the supernatural being projected in the writings of Melville, as is amply obvious in Moby Dick. The story revolves around the idea of an awesome sea mammal, which drives the passions of revenge in one man and forces him to pursue a course of action which leads ultimately to his death as well as the deaths of his companions. There is a great deal of imagination involved in these stories and the creativity is highly apparent. There is an expression of belief in the supernatural, as the author strives to create the image of a humongous beast in the mind of the reader. There are no indications that Melville was in any way averse to fame or to the pursuit of excellence in his work. Every author, when writing a book, is hopeful of it's success and Melville was no less. The Piazza Tales (1856) contain some of Melville's finest shorter works; particularly notable are the powerful short stories Benito Cereno and Bartleby the Scrivener and the ten descriptive sketches of the Galpagos Islands, Ecuador, The Encantadas. Bartleby's story is an allegory of withdrawal suggesting more than one level of interpretation. Among them, Bartleby may be seen as a writer (like Melville), who chooses no longer to write; or as a human walled off from society by his employment on wall Street, by the walls of his building, by the barriers of his office nook within the building, by the brick surface he faces out his window, and by the walls of the prison where he dies. Bartleby's employer, the narrator of the story, has several walls of his own to break out of. In his final grasp at communication, the narrator invites the reading that Bartleby's life, and the story that presents it, are like dead letters that will never reach those that would profit from them. He leaves us with the words, "Ah Bartleby! Ah, humanity!" In "Bartleby, the Scrivener", Melville tries to relate to the reader and explain his declining situation. This story, on ...
