payment page
Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener” (full title “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street”) tells the story of a Wall Street lawyer who hires a man named Bartleby to work as a new clerk in his practice. Shortly after being hired, Bartleby refuses to do his job and rejects every request with a polite but firm “I would prefer not to.” “Bartleby the Scrivener” is one of Melville's most famous stories, and notoriously difficult to interpret; critics have been arguing about Melville’s intentions for decades. Some believe that the text is a commentary on capitalism, others believe it to be about mental health and nihilism, while still others think that it is a metaphor for Melville’s writing career or a reflection of human nature. Of course, some believe it is about a combination of all of these things. However, there is no definite, absolute answer; the text’s ambiguity and Melville’s discretion leaves it open to many interpretations.
“Bartleby the Scrivener” opens with the Lawyer, the short story’s narrator, briefly introducing himself to the reader. He characterizes himself as an “elderly” and “safe” man who works on the legal side of Wall Street. He goes on to say that the nature of his profession has introduced him to a wide range of colorful characters because he has had to work with many scriveners (clerks who copy legal documents) over the years. The Lawyer then explains that while he has known many scriveners, he is only interested in telling Bartleby’s story. This opening section is a vital piece of the text because it establishes that the reader is learning Bartleby’s story from another person, rather than from Bartleby himself. This forces the reader to contemplate the biased nature of storytelling and wonder if there is any key information that is being omitted from Bartleby’s tale. It also generates suspicion because the reader does not, at this time, know there is a reason why Bartleby can not tell his own story.
The Lawyer then goes on to introduce his other employees (the scriveners Turkey and Nippers and Ginger Nut, the errand boy) and provides an amusing account of his office’s dysfunctional nature. Turkey and Nippers are reminiscent of nursery rhyme or fairy tale characters, partially due to their strange names, but also in the complementary nature of their strange behavior. Turkey is a good worker in the morning, while Nippers grumbles over a sour stomach and plays with his desk. In the afternoon, Turkey is red-faced and angry, making blots on his copies, while Nippers works quietly and diligently. As the Lawyer points out, they relieve each other like guards. They are the Tweedledee and Tweedledum of the Wall Street world. This portion of the short story may be comical, but a deeper look into the text reveals that Melville may be satirizing the greedy Wall Street workers who were gaining fame and popularity at an alarming rate.
The Lawyer soon realizes that he needs more help than his current employees can handle. So, in the text’s inciting incident, he decides to hire Bartleby to work as a third scrivener. The Lawyer is initially very pleased with Bartleby’s work ethic because he writes as if he is “long famishing for something to copy.” The Lawyer notes that Bartleby appears to “gorge himself on [the Lawyer’s] documents” with “no pause for digestion.” The Lawyer’s diction in this section is crucial to our understanding of his character because he is pleased that Bartleby is treating his job like it is his life source. This emphasizes the unfair demands that capitalism generates within a workplace, one of the text’s main ideas.
The rising action portion of the short story begins with the most famous moment in the text: the first time that Bartleby rejects the Lawyer’s request with a polite but firm, “I would prefer not to.” Initially, Bartleby simply declines the Lawyer’s request to help him with something and continues to write. However, as the rising action continues, Bartleby begins to stop doing his job altogether and answers every single demand with a repeated “I would prefer not to.” Bartleby’s mantra infuriates his coworkers, in part because of its politeness. The word “prefer” softens the rejection but, at the same time, Bartleby makes it very clear that his refusal is not up for debate. The Lawyer refers to Bartleby’s curious behavior as “passive resistance” that nearly drives him and his employees mad.
At this same time, the Lawyer realizes that Bartleby rarely eats, does not appear to have any family, and has been living in the office. The Lawyer is so stunned by these facts, and Bartleby’s eccentric “preferences,” that he cannot find it in himself to fire Bartleby. This section of the rising action is significant because it establishes two key things: one, Bartleby’s disenchantment with reality has led him to completely reject all aspects of normal human life, and two, the Lawyer pities Bartleby and feels responsible for him.
The Lawyer initially allows Bartleby to stay in the office long after he he stops working for good, but eventually asks him to leave because his haunting presence is bad for business. Bartleby refuses, so the Lawyer simply moves to a new building. This arrangement works for a few days until, in the climax of the short story, the Lawyer learns that Bartleby has been arrested as a vagrant and imprisoned. This information rattles the Lawyer, especially since Bartleby recently rejected the Lawyer’s offer for Bartleby to stay in his home so that he would have a place to live while he figured something else out. The reader once again bears witness to the Lawyer’s protectiveness of Bartleby. However, it becomes increasingly apparent that the Lawyer cannot really help Bartleby because he is unable to communicate with him. This results in Bartleby’s complete isolation and disconnection from the only person who is trying to look out for him.
The falling action portion of the narrative takes place in the prison as the Lawyer attempts to visit Bartleby. He tries to ensure that the prison staff looks after his old employee, and he makes sure that Bartleby is well fed. However, Bartleby appears to have fully given up on life and refuses to eat or really speak to the Lawyer. Unsurprisingly, given Bartleby’s refusal to eat, the Lawyer returns and finds Bartleby dead in the prison yard.
Interestingly, the story does not end with Bartleby’s death. Instead, the Lawyer closes out his narration by disclosing the one piece of information that he was able to uncover about Bartleby’s past: Bartleby once worked in the Dead Letter office. This rumor causes the reader to wonder if such a miserable job—burning letters that have been sent to people that have died in the meantime or who have vanished—was what caused Bartleby's ennui and his descent into apparent insanity.
