Bartleby The Scrivener Gender Roles

“Bartleby the Scrivener,” by Herman Melville, and “Hills Like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway, both present entirely different stories about an isolated employee, and an awkward conversation between a young couple, but as we delve deeper into each story, we are presented with the theme of choice and gender. Bartleby is presented with a number of choices and opportunities to leave his place of work, and the woman, Jig, faces the choice of whether to get an abortion or not. This theme of decision making shows how gender roles play into our freedom of choice and our opportunities. In Bartleby’s case, he is able to ultimately decide his fate due to the fact he is male, but Jig’s future decision will be consciously or subconsciously influenced
From “Bartleby the Scrivener,” we see that he is able to make his own decisions, not matter how illogical they seem, due to the fact he is male. Throughout his tale, Bartleby loiterers in the office of his workplace for an unrelenting amount of time, and when his boss begs him to leave the establishment, Bartleby only responds with, “I would prefer not.” He continues along this illogical chain of responses and eventually ends up in jail due to the grievances against him. Additionally, Bartleby chooses to not each one scrap or morsel when he is imprisoned, and he eventually starves himself to death. This chain of events was set into action due to the poor and illogical choices of Bartleby. However, Bartleby’s decisions were uncontested by his employer, or others, because he was thought to be just be a strange male. In addition to this, Bartleby is even offered an opportunity, but never forced to concede to it. In order to influence Bartleby to leave his business, his boss bribes him to leave the office and never return. He even says that he only “owe[s] [Bartleby] twelve dollars on account,” but in order to cure his Bartleby induced headache, he offers him a generous amount of “thirty-two [dollars].” This moment shows how Bartleby is being an unemotional or strong-willed man. In Bartleby’s situation,
Jig asks her lover if he will worry about the procedure, and he responds by saying he considers the treatment simplistic, and then Jig states, “Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me.” This statement further asserts the idea that Jig is looking to appease her male counterpart and put her own feelings aside in order to remain with her lover. Jig doesn’t want to lose her current relationship, because her internalized gender stereotypes tell her that women need to be supported by a male figure. Additionally, Jig is continuously being pressured to make her decision by overbearing lover. The man states early on in the story states that, “[They’ll] be fine afterwards. Just like [they] were before,” and then finally claims that the only problem that exists between them is this decision on whether Jig should have an abortion or not. Jig is faced with the decision to either not receive the treatment, which could end in the destruction of her romantic relationship, or to go through with treatment, but regret her decision for the rest of her life. Due to the external pressure to please her lover, like a “good” women would do, Jig receptively states, “I’ll do it,” and soon begins to contemplate this decision. Even though the reader is never