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Summary
The narrator of “Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” is the Lawyer, who runs a law practice on Wall Street in New York City. The Lawyer begins by noting that he is an “elderly man” who prefers his life to be “safe” and “easy.” He clarifies that he is not the type of lawyer who stands before a jury or generates a public spectacle; instead, he resides on Wall Street’s legal side, where he works with rich men and their bonds, mortgages, and title-deeds. The Lawyer goes on to say that his profession has brought him "into more than ordinary contact with what would seem an interesting and somewhat singular set of men, the law-copyists, or scriveners.” While the Lawyer knows many interesting stories of such scriveners, he bypasses them all in favor of telling the story of Bartleby, whom he considers to be the most interesting of all the scriveners. Bartleby is, according to the Lawyer, a mysterious, enigmatic figure—he refers to Bartleby as “one of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable, except from the original sources, and, in his case, those were very small.”
Before introducing Bartleby, the Lawyer describes his sterile and efficient office space, as well as the other scriveners who worked for his practice at this time. The first is Turkey, a man who is about the same age as the Lawyer (around sixty). He is an excellent scrivener in the morning, but as the day wears on—particularly in the afternoon—he becomes more prone to making mistakes, dropping ink plots on the copies he writes. He also becomes more flushed and develops a poor temper as the day progresses. The Lawyer tries to help both himself and Turkey by asking Turkey to only to work in the mornings, but Turkey argues with him. So, the Lawyer simply schedules all of Turkey’s important work for the morning and gives him less important documents in the afternoon.
The second worker is Nippers, who is much younger and more ambitious than Turkey. Nippers’ ambition causes him to conduct meetings with various “ambiguous-looking fellows in seedy coats,” who he refers to as his clients. The Lawyer also notes that Nippers does some business in the Justices’ courts. At twenty-five years old, he is a comical opposite to Turkey because he has trouble working in the morning. Until lunchtime, he suffers from stomach trouble and constantly adjusts the height of the legs on his desk, trying to get them perfectly balanced. In the afternoons, he is calmer and works steadily. The Lawyer comically notes that Turkey and Nippers’ eccentricities complement each other because “their fits relieved each other like guards. When Nippers’ was on, Turkey’s was off; and vice versa.” The Lawyer feels that this was a “good natural arrangement under the circumstances” because he always had one efficient employee in the office at any given time.
The last employee—not a scrivener, but an errand-boy—is Ginger Nut. His nickname comes from the fact that Turkey and Nippers often send him to pick up ginger nut cakes for them while they work. He is around twelve years old and he works for the Lawyer because Ginger Nut’s father wanted him to be a lawyer before he died.
Analysis
"Bartleby the Scrivener" is one of Melville's most famous stories. It is also one of the most difficult to interpret. For decades, critics have argued over numerous interpretations.
The plot is deceptively simple. The Lawyer, a well-established man of sixty working on Wall Street, hires a copyist—seemingly no different from any other copyist, though the Lawyer is well-accustomed to quirky copyists, of which he names two: Turkey and Nippers. Neither of their nicknames appears to really fit their character. Turkey does not seem to resemble a turkey in any way, unless his wrinkled skin, perhaps turned red when he has one of his characteristic fits, makes him look like he has a turkey's neck. Nippers might be so named because he is ill-tempered and "nippy" in the morning, but this too seems like a rather glib interpretation. Melville seems to have named the characters in a way that makes them memorable, but in a way that also alienates them somewhat; by refusing to give them real names, Melville emphasizes the fact that they can easily be defined by their function, behavior or appearance—each is just another nameless worker.
Turkey and Nippers are also reminiscent of nursery rhyme or fairy tale characters, partially due to their strange names, but also in the way their behavior complements one another. 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.
