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Jacob Hall Wikipedia's The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids article for ENGL2131.01

Analysis of Article

1. There is one main issue with the brief summary in the article. It only briefly touches on the underlying themes and topics relevant during the time. The article states that it can be read as a comment on globalization. While this may be true, the more prominent theme present in the short story is the contrast of male and female. While the male gender is portrayed by the wealthy bachelors of London and their cushy retreat, the female gender is portrayed by women laborers who endure freezing temperatures working, and living, at a paper mill in the middle of a treacherous terrain in Massachusetts.

Reading List

1. David Harley Serlin (1995). The Dialogue of Gender in Melville's "The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids"

2. W.R. Thompson (1957). "The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids": A Reinterpretation

3. Beryl Rowland (1969). Melville's Bachelors and Maids: Interpretation Through Symbol and Metaphor

4. Karen A. Weyler (1994). Melville's "The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids": a dialogue about experience, understanding, and truth

5. Robyn Wiegman (1989). Melville's Geography of Gender

6. Baym, Nina, Krupat, Arnold. Robert S. Levine (2012). The Norton Anthology of American Literature

Revised paragraph from article

Original

"The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids" is a short story written by American writer Herman Melville (1819-1891). It first appeared in the April 1855 edition of Harper's Magazine.^[1] Best known for his novel Moby-Dick, Melville wrote numerous books and short stories. A combination of two sketches, one set in the center of London's legal industry and the other in a New England paper factory, this story can be read as an early comment on globalization. In the first sketch, the London bachelors, all lawyers, scholars, or writers, enjoy a sumptuous meal in a cozy apartment near the Temple Bar. In the second sketch, the New England "maids" are young women working in a paper factory.

Revised

Analysis:

"The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids" is a short story written by American author Herman Melville (1819-1891). It first appeared in the April 1855 edition of Harper's Magazine,^[1]  and is a combination of the two sketches, with the first story "The Paradise of Bachelors" set in the center of London's legal industry and the second story "The Tartarus of Maids" in a New England paper factory. Melville writes in first person his accounts as a visitor in both settings. this story can be read as an early comment on globalization. In the first sketch, the London bachelors, all lawyers, scholars, or writers, enjoy a sumptuous meal in a cozy apartment near the Temple Bar. In the second sketch, the unmarried New England "maids" are young female laborers who endure unforgiving cold to work in a desolate paper factory. This short story gives insight to the hierarchy, and classifications, of gender during the mid-nineteenth century in both North America and England. While Melville made the effort to starkly contrast the stories, he included themes of patriarchal authority as a commonality between the two.

Original Contribution

Themes

Throughout the story, the recurring theme of patriarchal authority finds a way to present itself. In the first story, "The Paradise of Bachelors," scholars, lawyers, and writers gather at a luxurious Temple in downtown London for gourmet meals, fine spirits, and the company of other wealthy, powerful men to share stories of their grandiose experiences. The Temple is a place that epitomizes bachelorhood and isolates itself from the rest of the city. On the contrary, in the second story "The Tartarus of Maids," Melville travels to a paper mill in Massachusetts where he faces the bitter cold, biting winds, and the treacherous terrain of the area. The young women who work at the paper mill are also boarded in dormitories at the mill. The owner of the paper mill refers to the women that work at his mill as girls, as he goes on to say that he will not employ married women because their obligations as wives would interfere with their ability to work twelve hours a day, 365 days per year, except Sundays, Thanksgiving, and fast days. The lives of both character sets each story rely solely on their ability relate with male power; the wealthy bachelors of London enjoy a cushy life with a completely male social network, and the maids in the second story are nearly enslaved by a male-dominated labor system.

Notes

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