Verified answer

Answer:

C. Allusion

Explanation:

An allusion is a reference to a historical or literary person, place, or event. In this sentence, Melville makes an allusion to Marius, a character from ancient Roman history who was said to have brooded among the ruins of Carthage, a city that was destroyed by the Romans. By making this allusion, Melville is making a comparison between Bartleby and Marius, suggesting that Bartleby is like Marius in that he is brooding alone among the ruins of his own life.

The literary device employed in the following sentence from Herman Melville’s short story "Bartleby, the Scrivener" is:

C. allusion

An allusion is a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art. In this sentence, Melville uses the allusion to Marius, a character from the novel "The Last Days of Carthage" by Julius Cæsar, to create a metaphor that describes Bartleby's situation.

Marius is a historical figure who is known for brooding alone among the ruins of Carthage after the city was destroyed by the Romans. In the sentence, Melville compares Bartleby to Marius, describing him as a "sort of innocent and transformed Marius brooding among the ruins of Carthage". This comparison highlights Bartleby's isolation and his contemplation of the ruins of his own life. The metaphor also suggests that Bartleby has undergone a transformation, perhaps from a more active and engaged individual to a solitary and contemplative one, similar to Marius.

In summation, the use of allusion in this sentence creates a powerful metaphor that evokes a sense of isolation and contemplation in the reader, and helps to convey the theme of the story, which is the idea of the human condition and the individual's relationship to society.