In her short story “The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids,” Melville uses the apparent juxtaposition of the different locations to show how factories are turning America into Hell. There are several juxtapositions within the text besides the two in the title. Melville uses different scenery descriptions, different genders, and ultimately the dichotomy of Heaven and Hell.
In the “Paradise of Bachelors,” the narrator uses colorful descriptions whereas in “Tartarus of Maids” he uses bleak, dull, and harsh descriptions. The narrator describes the vast feasts, drinks, and other luxuries such as brotherhood and “snuff” to depict the Bachelors. The entire second section, however, is constantly described negatively. The “Dungeon” is surrounded by dark forests and the “Blood River.” Even down to the surrounding areas, the heart of New England, America is cold, cryptic, and prison-like. Additionally, instead of a brotherhood, the narrator steps into the factory and sees that “at rows of blank-looking counters sat rows of blank-looking girls, with blank, white folders in their blank hands, all blankly folding blank paper,” (Melville 1270). The girls are totally separated from one another, doing their own jobs with “blank” stares as if their lives meant nothing. Melville uses the imagery of paper to both symbolize the colorlessness of the factory life as well as the meaninglessness of the girls’ lives. There is nothing written on that paper, and so it is as if there is nothing to document their lives, and they are unable to share their thoughts. Thus, the narrator uses different types of descriptions to show that the factory workers work hard yet gain nothing while the Bachelors sit around enjoying life and gain everything.
Lastly, in the first section of the novella, the narrator uses descriptions that can be seen as anti-American. As the narrator is about to enter the room of the feast, he describes the room as “wonderfully unpretending, old, and snug. No new shining mahogany, sticky with undried varnish; no uncomfortably luxurious ottomans… It is a thing which every sensible American should learn from every sensible Englishman, that glare and glitter…are not indispensable to domestic solacement,” (1261). The narrator uses words like “wonderfully” to mean that it’s refreshing to see something new and non-American. Also, he implies that Americans are not as superior as they think, as they “should learn from every sensible Englishmen.” Though he uses the same description for an American as he does the Englishman, it is used sarcastically towards the Americans while seriously towards the Englishman. Also, the dichotomy of Heaven and Hell is apparent in the title alone. The Bachelors live in “paradise,” while the Maids live in “Tartarus,” a word synonymous with Hell. Furthermore, since paradise is in London while Tartarus is in America, Melville suggests that America is Hell. Overall, through using counterparts in this story, the author is able to convey the message that factories result in America becoming Hell rather than some sort of paradise.
