Toba Tek Singh And Bartelby

Having read “Bartelby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville before Toba Tek Singh I couldn’t stop myself from creating an analogy between them. The two main characters are SO similar that it is surprising to see two different authors from different parts of the world (United States and Pakistan) in different centuries (Melville in 1853 and Manto in 1955) creating such similar characters.

The titles of both short stories consist of the names of the main characters within them, Bartelby being Melville’s protagonist and Toba Tek Singh (Bishen Singh) being Manto’s. Bartelby and Toba Tek Singh both seem to be very gloomy, heart broken and blue characters with irreversible decisions.

Mantra:

Bartelby is a copywriter at the narrator’s (who is a lawyer) law firm. At the beginning of the story, Bartelby does what he’s asked to do (copy the documents) but after three days when he’s asked to read the documents he replies, “I would prefer not to.” And from this point onwards the statement “I would prefer not to” is the answer to all the chores he is asked to do throughout the story. Similarly, whenever Toba Tek Singh speaks, he says one line “Uper the gur gur the annexe the bay dhayana the mung the lal of the laltain” which is only sometimes altered. So both characters have a specific mantra, which they keep repeating throughout the stories.

Standing Posture:

Another similarity that can be derived is their “standing” posture.  We come across a couple of times in the text that Toba Tek Singh would be always standing; “Occasionally, he could be observed leaning against the wall, but the rest of the time, he was always to be found standing.”

The same could be said of Bartelby, “for long periods he would stand looking out, at his pale window behind the screen, upon the dead brick wall”

Isolation and Soul Suffering:

Toba Tek Singh is isolated and is in exile, away from his house. Toba Tek Singh is physically and mentally isolated. His family brought him to the asylum 15 years ago and since then he has been in exile. Also nobody has the answer to his question, “Where is Toba Tek Singh? In India or in Pakistan?” He is so mentally frustrated with this question and by not getting any satisfactory answer for it he is in his own separate world trying to figure it out by continuously thinking about it, worrying about it and asking everyone around him. His soul is suffering to know about its location. His love for it is visible through this impatience.

In comparison, Bartelby is physically isolated in the workspace (“I placed his desk close up to a small window…I procured a high green folding screen, which might entirely isolate Bartelby from my sight”). He goes through more isolation when  he is forced out of the office/office building and into prison. Bartelby is also a victim of this soul suffering but we are not aware of its reason. After seeing that Bartelby has made the office his house, narrator says “…the scrivener was the victim of innate and incurable disorder. I might give alms to his body; but his body did not pain him; it was his soul that suffered…”

Visitors:

Fazal Din (a Muslim friend) visits Bishen Singh. “This is your old friend Fazal Din. He has come all the way to meet you.” He brings him, rice crispies. Likewise, the lawyer in Bartelby is the ONLY man who knows him and he pays him a visit in the prison. He behaves in a similar caring manner as Fazal Din and asks the grub-man to “let him [Bartelby] have the best dinner you can get.”

Harmlessness of Toba Tek Singh and Bartelby:

Both characters are described to be “harmless”.

Toba Tek Singh: “Since he was a harmless old man, no further attempt was made to push him into India. He was allowed to stand where he wanted.”

Bartelby: “Being under no disgraceful charge, and quiet serene and harmless in all his ways, they permitted him freely to wander about the prison…”

Death:

Both of them die under the open sky in a prison. Toba Tek Singh dies between barbed wires on both left and right, which could be compared to a prison. And Bartelby dies in the prison yard itself.