Bartleby The Scrivener Analysis

In both stories, after the characters are introduced, one begins to see situational changes within the characters. Bartleby, who once was a skillful, efficient worker and a valuable asset to the lawyer, has now ceased working and his superficial façade is none changing. He presents his employer with a constant and passive answer of “I would prefer not to” to all request and inquiries presented by the lawyer. He unwilling leaves the premises of his job and the lawyer try to put up with him but he finds his annoyance of Bartleby’s actions unbearable. Such as when he found that Bartleby was staying the office after all others had gone home and refusal to do any work and take any money from the lawyer and leave. Even the lawyer seems to be walled in by Bartleby and Bartleby’s

By the end of the story, the constant refusals wear everyone down and he is left alone. When new people move into the building, Bartleby still refuses to move from his office, leading to his arrest. Locked away in prison, Bartleby still refuses to eat, saying that “I prefer not to dine today”. This is significant because it shows that he still uses polite wording even though he has given up living. He courteously refuses to eat and chooses to live for as long as he prefers to live and curls up against one of the prison walls. This refusal, even in the face of death, shows an almost courageous side of Bartleby. He knows that he will most likely die, but he still musters up the courage to continue his fight. Due to his refusal of food, he will be buried without sustenance for the afterlife, a final nod to his status as a man without power, appetite, or

It is both an unarguable and undesirable fact that we live in a society completely remote from our fellow man. There is no longer a sense of community between friends and neighbors — no brotherhood in the presence of coworkers in the commercial workplace. Even the higher, spiritual presence that had once bound together all things in worship and praise has faltered in the face of this profound apathy. It is not that mankind has lost its ability to communicate — modern technology provides us with the ability to speak to one another over tremendous lengths and sustain friendships in staggering amounts. The reason for this chasm of communal indifference stems from man's lost desire to understand one another, as well as the divine presence around

Bartleby, the Scrivener, is a story written by Herman Mellvile. It is about a successful lawyer who hires a homeless, depressed man named Bartleby to transcribe documents for him. The narrator of this story is the lawyer. Throughout the story, Bartleby declines at his job, saying he would “prefer not” to perform his duties. Eventually, the lawyer learns about Bartleby’s homelessness by discovering he has been living in the office. After a while, the lawyer feels it would be best for the business to just move to a different office, so he does. To his surprise, Bartleby follows him there. Bartleby ends up getting arrested and eventually dies while in prison. This story has great meaning to it. The main character displays a great character of

A communication lesson that is learned by readers of Bartleby the Scrivener is morals and ethics. A reader is able to examine the work relationship between Bartleby and his boss determining what the morality and personal responsibility our main character had at the law firm. When it comes to morals and ethics, the reader can play devil’s advocate either siding with Bartleby or his boss. By Bartleby saying no to doing his work, he demonstrates how morality and ethics are barely existent in the modern world. The lawyer is not used to being objected and he pretends what Bartleby said never happened. Others can side with the lawyer who is experiencing a hard time with an employee who rebels and refuses to live up to his work expectations. However, the morality of our narrator is put into question as well, “I am a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best”, (Bartleby the Scrivener, pg.1), where taking the easy way doesn’t always mean it’s the right way.

In the beginning, Bartleby arrives at the narrator's law practice, seeking employment as an answer to an advertisement the lawyer had placed. Bartleby gets hired and immediately gets to work. Everything starts very well with Bartleby copying and writing papers by daylight and candlelight. Nothing too weird unveils the situation, and even though Bartleby is mysteriously discreet, the narrator finds this a relief, compared to the unconventionalities of his clerks Nippers and Turkey. After Bartleby's arrival, business seem to go on as usual for a little while, at least.

Bartleby has taken the role as a panhandler in a sense. The lawyer sees that he has nowhere to go, and no one to depend upon, so he lets him stay. Even though he is poor, he’s not as naïve as everyone thinks he is. They call Bartleby mysterious and they take his many refusals lightly. It seems as if he knows exactly what he’s doing, and he just wants to make others feel sorry for him. He is only getting away with not doing any work because the boss lets him do so, and he knows this.

The narrator has hired workers that either do not do their jobs, or do not do them consistently. Therefore, he has a lot of conflict with his workers. Bartleby began as a good worker as a scrivener, but slowly trailed off after a couple weeks of working there. The narrator basically runs the law office himself with little help. After Bartleby had been working at the law office for a while, he decided it would be a good idea to move in to the law office. The narrator did not know that he had been living there until he came into work one morning and found him sleeping on the floor.

Bartleby eventually stops doing anything he is ask and even gets fired but refuses to leave. He is passive but is also unyielding; never stopping

Bartleby shows up because he answering an ad the lawyer put out and the lawyer gives him the job. Bartleby seems like an excellent worker because in the beginning he would write all day and night, but eventually even Bartleby starts acting up and saying “he would prefer not

The lawyer explains how Turkey is an excellent scrivener in the morning, but as the day goes on he becomes incompetent because he is prone to making mistakes like dropping ink “blots” on the copies he writes (112). Although it is okay because he has Nippers who was a very useful man to him. The lawyer describes Nipper’s efficiency by saying he “wrote a neat, swift hand, and when he chose, was not defioient in a gentlemanly sort of deportment” (115). In addition, the way in which the lawyer addresses his employees are through nicknames that he gives them instead of their real names therefore removing yet another quality that makes his workers human. The names he gives his workers such as “Ginger Nut” and the way he describes his employees is as if their level of productivity mattered more than who they were as a person. The lawyer in this instance is representative of the way in which employers view their employees as if they were selecting an equipment for an assembly

When Bartleby tells the lawyer that he not do anymore writing for him the lawyer asks him to leave. Bartleby doesn’t leave so many people start noticing that Bartleby is around all the time when he does not work there anymore. This forces the lawyer to move his office into a different building. Bartleby will not leave so the cops are called and he is arrested and thrown in jail, where he

The reader is left with numerous questions. For example, what does Bartley thing and how does he motivate his behavior? Why cannot he compromise as the majority of people and agree with the working conditions? What does the scrivener prefer to? None of these riddles is explainable for the past century. For decades, critics have disputed how to understand and explain the character of the scrivener. The attempts to give the accurate explanation of Bartleby behavior and thoughts will be vain because very little information is revealed by the author and the narrator. But who is Bartleby? Many critics interpreted him as a universal symbol of Melville’s life or the author himself. Widmer is sure that, “In sum, writer Bartleby is writer Melville and expresses the author’s sense of despair in mid-nineteenth century America which allowed little recognition or place to a serious, critical and pessimistic artist” (p. 446). Bartleby’s silent and inexplicable resistance brings isolation to him not only from his colleagues but also from the rest of the world. The scrivener does not present insulting or disdainful manners but his challenging tone and the phrase “I prefer not to” seem to mock at the boss and the society in the

Bartleby tells his own boss and owner of the law office to leave his own property while he remains inside. This event solidifies the fact that the boss has no backbone for himself or the company. The boss cannot stand up for himself and tells Bartleby to leave, but rather takes the command of one of his incompetent workers. Bartleby at this point has gained complete control over his own boss.

Characters are made to seem sinister, having an ulterior motive due to this. For example, Lily fakes being interested in the Americana, not smoking and going to church for Mr. Gryce, while Mr. Trenor helps Lily financially in order to sleep with her. The reader is able to identify the difference between a conversation Lily has with Selden and one she has with other characters, due to the lack of need for Lily to keep her good reputation with Selden. Bart herself acknowledges that she doesn't have to ''pretend'' with him or be ''on guard against'' him. In other occasions, the young woman has to concentrate primary on gossip and pretense and strive to manipulate others, by calculating her every word. The irony in this fact is that by acting so, they showcase bad manners; lying, adultery, gossiping, and being passive aggressive, are all behaviours evident in the upper class. In the reader's eyes, this fact makes her relationship with Selden the realest one of the whole book, and comes to the logical conclusion, that he is the best partner for her, him symbolising freedom from materialism, something that she wants for herself. However, Bart is not able to detach herself from her thirst for money and therefore, continues her pursue for a wealthy husband, like Mr. Gryce, who is a symbol for freedom from financial