`` Bartleby, The Scrivener, And Harlan Ellison s ``...

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, sanity is â€Å"the condition of having a healthy mind [or] the condition of being based on reason or good judgement† (Merriam-Webster). Using this definition, the question to address would then be what constitutes having a healthy mind? Some people believe that in order to be seen as having this you have to be â€Å"normal†. For some this term is the â€Å"equivalent of [being] oblivious and you [are] ‘abnormal’ when you [are] sentient, human, and real† (Maisel, 2011). This concept of what is normal and what is not is dependent upon how everyone in the society around them acts. Therefore, someone who is not deemed as being â€Å"normal† cannot be seen as having a healthy mind and having a good sense of judgement because they are too perceptive to the world around them. In Herman Melville’s â€Å"Bartleby, the Scrivener† and Harlan Ellison’s â€Å" ‘Repent, Harlequin!â⠂¬â„¢ Said the Ticktockman† the principal characters are ostracized by the society’s they live in for this very reason. Being that both of the characters are mindful enough to rebel against what society expects of them, they can be perceived as exhibiting a form of â€Å"divinest sense†. When one looks at the phrase â€Å"divinest sense† they would conclude that it means that the individual possesses some form of god-like consciousness. Although as previously discussed, to the rest of society the person would be ridden off as being insane because they are too aware of their surroundings. The whole concept