Question

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

And here Bartleby makes his home, sole spectator of a solitude which he has seen all populous—a sort of innocent and transformed Marius brooding among the ruins of Carthage!

A) allegory
B) irony
C) allusion
D) symbolism

Answer 1

the correct answer is allusion

Answer 2

The literary device employed in the sentence is (C) allusion. Allusion, in literature, is a figure of speech that consists in a reference to a person, thing, place or event. In this sentence, the author makes reference to "a sort of innocent and transformed Marius" to explain that Bartleby was mute and solitary in a world in ruins.