As I quote Herman Melville, I can't help to identity our modern society, our way of avoiding darkness, of staying close to the light, to the beautiful. “Ah, happiness courts the light, so we deem the world is gay; but misery hides aloof, so we deem that misery there is none.”
Every single person in the world wishes to have never seen conflict, misery and sadness, for the world to be surrounded by happiness, by an everlasting feeling of joy and a light emitting from every corner of this universe. However, this isn't reality, as bad as we wish to close our eyes and imaging a blinding light, we can't. Misery is all around us, but misery is dark, its instinct to run away from, to hide. We tend to ignore pressing issues because they interfere with our quest for happiness.
For example, we know there are starving children all over the world, perhaps in your neighborhood, but it is much easier to just throw away that bit of food you just didn't like. We are aware our part of the world leaves way beyond our means, and beyond whats necessary, while many others are homeless and abandoned.Why not just ignore the people in need of a kind word, in need of love? This is our society's mentality, and I believe is what I see in Bartleby. The lawyer is aware that he has been abandoned, abandoned by society and by the world. Just like we choose to hide problems, to hide cruel facts. If it interferes with out light, we rather just close our eyes.
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