Lit Clue: July 25 - Solved

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 25 Jul 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

OakDragon	25 Jul 2004
I finally found something to post! Yay! I hope it's not too easy or difficult. This is from "Bartleby, The Scrivener" by Herman Melville "Meanwhile Bartleby sat in his hermitage, oblivious to every thing but his own peculiar business there. Some days passed, the scrivener being employed upon another lengthy work. His late remarkable conduct led me to regard his ways narrowly. I observed that he never went to dinner; indeed that he never went any where. As yet I had never of my personal knowledge known him to be outside of my office. He was a perpetual sentry in the corner. At about eleven o’clock though, in the morning, I noticed that Ginger Nut would advance toward the opening in Bartleby’s screen, as if silently beckoned thither by a gesture invisible to me where I sat. The boy would then leave the office jingling a few pence, and reappear with a handful of ginger-nuts which he delivered in the hermitage, receiving two of the cakes for his trouble. He lives, then, on ginger-nuts, thought I; never eats a dinner, properly speaking; he must be a vegetarian then; but no; he never eats even vegetables, he eats nothing but ginger-nuts. My mind then ran on in reveries concerning the probable effects upon the human constitution of living entirely on ginger-nuts. Ginger-nuts are so called because they contain ginger as one of their peculiar constituents, and the final flavoring one. Now what was ginger? A hot, spicy thing. Was Bartleby hot and spicy? Not at all. Ginger, then, had no effect upon Bartleby. Probably he preferred it should have none. Nothing so aggravates an earnest person as a passive resistance. If the individual so resisted be of a not inhumane temper, and the resisting one perfectly harmless in his passivity; then, in the better moods of the former, he will endeavor charitably to construe to his imagination what proves impossible to be solved by his judgment. Even so, for the most part, I regarded Bartleby and his ways. Poor fellow! thought I, he means no mischief; it is plain he intends no insolence; his aspect sufficiently evinces that his eccentricities are involuntary. "

blackroseivy	25 Jul 2004
"The Hermit". Yeah - obvious!

OakDragon	25 Jul 2004
Sorry, no... but at least that one's out of the way! :D

littlehermit	25 Jul 2004
How about Four of Pentacles?

tmgrl2	25 Jul 2004
Eight of Pentacles

Dark Eyes	26 Jul 2004
how about the hanged man??

Eco74	26 Jul 2004
Two of swords...

jmd	26 Jul 2004
a 'scrivener'... how about the Papess/High Priestess?

Eco74	26 Jul 2004
The Heirophant perhaps?

mercenary30	26 Jul 2004
With all that contemplation and analysis I will guess at the Seven of Pentacles.

OakDragon	26 Jul 2004
Nope, no one has it yet.

blackroseivy	26 Jul 2004
Five of cups.

jmd	27 Jul 2004
naah... easy really... it's Temperance :)

blackroseivy	27 Jul 2004
Maybe - but I'm taking one more shot, & saying the 6 of Pentacles. :)

OakDragon	27 Jul 2004
Sorry, keep guessing! Do the characteristics of Bartleby in the quote, when combined, suggest any sort of... well... state of being to you?

Goldenhair	28 Jul 2004
The Fool - who is oblivious!

Eco74	28 Jul 2004
The hanged man?

jmd	28 Jul 2004
Self contained... IIII the Emperor?

littlehermit	28 Jul 2004
hmm. how about four of swords, for the sense of retreat?

OakDragon	28 Jul 2004
No, keep trying!

blackroseivy	28 Jul 2004
(sigh) Justice.

Dark Eyes	28 Jul 2004
seven of cups..? a bit of a dreamer, off with the fairies?? :D like me most of the time !

blackroseivy	28 Jul 2004
Page of Wands.

Satori	29 Jul 2004
The Moon

Ellie	29 Jul 2004
8 of Swords

jmd	29 Jul 2004
Suggested thus far: Papess/High Priestess Emperor Pope/Hierophant Justice Hermit Hanged Man Temperance Moon Fool Page Bastons/Wands 5 Cups 7 Cups 4 Coins 6 Coins 7 Coins 8 Coins 2 Swords 4 Swords 8 Swords How about the [font=papyrus] Bateleur/Magician ? [/font]

blackroseivy	29 Jul 2004
Eight of Pentacles...

OakDragon	29 Jul 2004
No, hmmm... I guess I make these too difficult. Let me summarize: He never goes out, doesn't eat well, his environment seems to have no effect on him, apathy, passive resistance. To me, these characteristics point to a certain state of being and a particular card has always represented that to me. Now which card is it? Perhaps it will help also if I say that in other portions of the story (which didn't generally seem to illustrate his character as well, so I didn't use them for the quote) whenever the narrator asks him to do something, he almost invariably says, "I'd prefer not to." Does that help? Sorry about this folks, if there's a next time, I promise it'll be an easy one.

Luminessence	29 Jul 2004
4 of Cups?

OakDragon	29 Jul 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Luminessence 4 of Cups? Yay, finally! Congratulations, Luminessence. It's the four of cups. The character on the card, like Bartleby, sits alone, lost in his own thoughts, ignoring what life has to offer... not participating in anything. In short, he's very depressed... at least, that's the way I've always looked at it. Your turn!

The Lit Clue: July 25 - Solved thread was originally posted on 25 Jul 2004 in the Tarot Games & Fun board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Games & Fun, or read more archived threads.