2Imprimis: Latin for "In the first place." It is a
legal term familiar to the lawyer-narrator.
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3A poor German immigrant to the United States, Astor (1763-1848)
was immensely successful in fur trading and real estate, becoming the richest
man of his time. However, his name was synonymous with the worst abuses
of big business: monopoly, worker exploitation, and political corruption.
Astor was also a patron of literary figures, including Washington Irving,
who wrote Astoria, an account of Astor's attempt to establish
a fur trading post in present-day Oregon. At his death, Astor's estate
was worth more than $340 million in today's terms.
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4Courts of Chancery were set up to protect natural rights
against strict adherence to the written law. The so-called Master was to
decide each case expediently, and he collected fees regardless of the outcome.
In many cases, however, lengthy litigation kept property from being transferred
to its rightful heirs. The position was abolished in New York under the
"new Constitution" of 1846.
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5City directory of the names and addresses of residents.
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6Pursy: Short-winded because obese.
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7As in fires celebrating Christmas.
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8Cannel coal is soft; it burns quickly and brightly. Anthracite
is hard, and burns more slowly, with intense heat. Thus, a hot, bright
fire.
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9The sand was used to blot ink.
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10"Devotions" is pun, ironically implying that Turkey is
religiously devoted to his work.
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11Nippers' "clients" are from the lowest class, which fact
appears to offend the sensibilities of the lawyer-narrator. Nippers may
be providing services for those too poor to afford a lawyer. His name,
apparently deriving from New York slang, suggests that these dealings may
be shady ones.
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12The Tombs was a maximum security prison in New York City.
The name derives from its architectural similarity to Egyptian temples
and tombs, a style called Egyptian Revival. In the early nineteenth century,
European explorers including Giovanni Battista Belzoni and E.D. Clarke
opened the pyramid-tombs of many ancient pharaohs, which caused an international
interest in Egyptian studies. Melville probably read the accounts of both
explorers, and images from ancient Egypt, especially pyramids, obelisks,
and mummies, pervade his writings. For a detailed analysis of Melville's
use of ancient Egyptian imagery, see Dorothee Metlitsky Finkelstein's Melville's
Orienda (1961).
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13Dun: A bill collector.
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14Here "temperate" means "not drinking alcohol" rather than
"even-tempered." The word is related to the Temperance movement of the
19th century.
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15A carman was a wagon driver.
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16Spitzenberg: A variety of red-and-yellow New York apple.
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17Custom House: The Custom House stood at Wall and Nassau
streets. This is the area in which Ginger Nut buys the apples, and perhaps
the ginger wafers from which he got his nickname.
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18Nippers has sealed a document with a ginger cake instead
of the usual wax wafer.
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19Supply the lawyer with stationery [that is, the cookie]
at Turkey's expense.
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20A conveyancer writes legal documents that transfer property
from one person to another. A title-hunter checks legal records to determine
who has a claim to the property.
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21Ground glass is translucent, not transparent, so it effectively separates the lawyer from Turkey, Nippers, and Ginger Nut, in the other room, return to text
22George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) was known as a high-spirited or "mettlesome" man return to text
23Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman philosopher, orator, and statesman
(106-43 BCE) is often considered a model for lawyers. Critics have interpreted
the presence of Cicero's bust as a (probably unfavorable) comment on the
lawyer-narrator.
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24The disobedient wife of Lot, who defied God's direct command
not to look back at her home in Sodom. For her transgression, she was turned
into a pillar of salt. In "Bartleby," however, it is the lawyer,
giving "direct instructions" to the resistant Bartleby, who becomes a pillar
of salt.
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25Nice: discerning or fine-tuned.
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26In this case, "suffrage" means "support."
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27A brand of hand soap.
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28The equivalent in 1994 dollars, according to a price index
used by economists, would be 70 cents.
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29An Episcopal Church near the lawyer's office. It had a
wealthy congregation.
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30Disarrayed clothing.
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31Ancient Nabatean city, carved in stone, whose ruins were
discovered in 1812 in what is now Jordan.
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32A Roman plebeian general, Gaius Marius (157-86 BCE) fled
to Africa after being defeated on the battlefield by patrician forces.
He arrived at the ruins of Carthage, which he later said reflected his
fallen condition.
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33 Broadway was not only a business thoroughfare, but also
a place of social display.
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34What "disqualifies" the narrator from going to church that morning may be implied in the following poem by Emily Dickinson:
"Faith" is a fine invention
When Gentlemen can see--
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency.
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35In Matthew 18, Jesus, responding to the question "Who is
the greatest in the kingdom of heaven," calls a little child to his side,
and says to the disciples that those who can humble themselves like the
child are the greatest in God's kingdom. In Matthew 18:6, Jesus admonishes
that "whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me,
it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and
that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."
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36This image implies not only disaster, but also complete
isolation.
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37Shirt-button: minute or negligible.
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38Some scholars point to Matthew 24:1-2 as significant in
interpreting this image.
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39This may be a pun suggesting that this is Judgement Day
for the lawyer-narrator in reference to Matthew 25:31-42.
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40In 1841, John C. Colt, in his own Broadway office, bludgeoned
Samuel Adams to death with a hatchet. Adams was a printer who had come
to Colt to collect a debt. After the murder, Colt crated the corpse to
be shipped to New Orleans. The body was discovered, and the ensuing trial,
conviction, sentencing, execution, etc. produced a sensation almost unprecedented.
The New York Daily Tribune printed a daily account of trial proceedings,
including a graphic confession written by Colt and read to the court by
his attorney. Colt was found dead, apparently a suicide, shortly before
his scheduled execution. The narrator sees Colt as more unfortunate than
the murdered Adams. Such displacement of sympathy may ironically apply
to the lawyer's attitude toward himself.
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41old Adam: human sinfulness.
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42Lines spoken by Jesus to His disciples. (John 13:34).
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43Puritan theologian Jonathan Edwards and English scientist
Joseph Priestly denied the doctrine of free will, and encouraged people
to accept that history is preordained.
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44Referring a dispute to arbitrators.
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45The lawyer's denial of Bartleby seems analogous to Peter's
denial of Christ in Mark 14:68, 70-71.
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46Melville himself had worked in a dry-goods store.
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47A carriage.
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48Geographic locations on Manhattan Island and Long Island
respectively.
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49Melville may be suggesting that the titles Halls of Justice
and House of Detention cannot legitimately apply to the same institution.
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50Critics have pointed to the similarity to Jesus, who was
crucified alongside two thieves.
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51Monroe Edwards, a New York financier, was detained in the
Tombs until his conviction for forgery at a sensational trial in 1842.
He was then transferred to Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York.
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52While suffering God's trials, Job says in Job 3:14-15 that
he wishes he had never been born, for then he would be ". . . at rest,
With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for
themselves; Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with
silver." The biblical reference seems to be two-edged: the lawyer is suggesting
Bartleby's elevation in death while he, a "counsellor" himself, in the
context of his own quotation is associated with those who created "desolate
places" or had disparate wealth (perhaps implying both Wall Street and
his bachelor life).
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53A dead letter is one that cannot be delivered for whatever
reason.
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