Bartleby, the Scrivener

Abstract:In Bartleby, the Scrivener,the narrator is a lawyer. He employs scriveners who copy documents by hand. One day he hired Bartleby to be a scrivener for him. Bartleby does a good job for him until he asks Bartelby to do something other than copying. Bartelby refuses and says he would 'prefer not to'. Bartelby continues to do this for numerous different tasks that the narrator asks him to do. Bartelby also eventually stops copying documents all together. The narrator also finds out that Bartelby stays at his office all day too. The narrator tries to fire Bartelby, but he won't leave. He just stands in the middle of the room all day. The narrator eventually moves offices in order to try to be rid of Bartelby because he does not have it in him to move Bartelby out. Bartelby stays in the offices though. The new tenants ask the narrator to come and move Bartelby.The narrator tries to get Bartelby to leave, but he won't. The narrator then finds out that Bartelby has been arrested and moved to the tombs. The narrator visits Bartelby at the tombs and has someone give him a nice meal there. When the narrator returns a couple days later, he finds out that Bartelby has died of starvation. He later finds out that Bartelby was previously employed at a dead letter office, but he lost his job there. The narrator thinks that Bartelby's previous job at the dead letter office was the reason for his odd temperament.

Response: I did not like this story at all. It was kind of boring, and I thought there would be a different more interesting reason to why Bartelby would 'prefer not' to do anything. Bartelby has some issues. He seems really depressed or has some other kind of mental illness because he won't do anything. He just stands there it seems like and wallows in his own misery. It is probably not good either that the narrator gave him a desk that faced a window that looked at a wall with nothing on it. It is kind of like Bartelby who seems to have no personality. The wall/view would also be depressing to look at all the time. It seems like Bartelby was depressed because he had worked in the dead letter office. The dead letters could have been a symbol of men and all they want to say, but never have the chance or courage to say which could have depressed Bartelby even more. The narrator seems kind of scared to do anything. He felt bad for Bartelby, but I don't know why. Bartelby never really did anything for him except copy paper, and then he even stopped doing that. Why was the narrator so compelled to help Bartelby? Did the narrator just feel bad for Bartelby because he seemed so depressed? It gets kind of annoying because the narrator wants Bartelby to leave so badly, but he won't confront Bartelby and be aggressive in order to make him leave. Bartelby could also reflect how Herman Melville felt during the time in his life when he wrote the story. Some of his novels were well accepted,but Moby-Dick and Pierre were not. Bartelby could be a reflection of Herman Melville and his desire to maybe give up on writing since some his works weren't received or accepted the way that he wished. He also had a nervous break down during his life, so maybe some of the emotions he felt during that time were reflected in the story.