Selfishness In Bartleby

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

The narrator of the story becomes shocked when he discovers that Bartleby, who only feeds on ginger nuts, has never left the office. This is actually the first time that the narrator experiences the spiritual power that Bartleby possesses. The narrator is so much business oriented that he only looks at the world in terms of profits. However, when he encounters this aspect of the spirit of Bartleby, his attitude towards life changes. He begins appreciating the fact that Bartleby deserves better treatment, not in the capitalist way. The narrator even sees what is a right, just as an asset, but this perception is later changed by Bartleby’s spirit: “What earthly right have you to stay here? Do you pay any rent? Do you pay my taxes? Or is this property yours?” (Melville, 41).

At each stratum of society, there is the misconception of correlating money and character. Jim’s mother risked her life and that of her only son to get her ‘dues.’ “[I]’m an honest woman,” she proclaims and intends to prove this proclamation by taking only what is owed (Stevenson 17). It is astonishing how her perception of value is skewed. She sits counting money in the face of imminent danger. She values money over the safety of herself and her son. It is when danger is at the door that Jim is able to pull her back from the brink of death and disaster.

The secondary title for the novel, A Story of Wall-Street, sets the stage for what has become another moral dilemma of man — the importance of commerce placed over the importance of life. Melville plays with the role of commerce continuously throughout this work, which takes place inside of a Lawyer's office on Wall Street. The Lawyer states, very simply, that he is "a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best," revealing that at the very core of his being is an ideal that anything strenuous he may come across in his path should be quickly avoided, as to not cause any disturbance in his daily routine (Melville 1). This accurately sums up the general mindset of those on Wall Street at the time, and perhaps America as a whole -- that anything out of the ordinary was considered a nuisance to those focused entirely on the generation of wealth. The Lawyer recognizes this, and even considers himself a part of this crowd. However, he has taken the time to write this account of Bartleby, the Scrivener that arrives one day to fill a position in the office. While Bartleby may represent this "nuisance" exactly, the Lawyer finds himself drawn towards the mysterious quality he brings, unaware whether he will be beneficial to the firm or

The lawyer is not able to focus on anything because Bartleby will not move from the office or do any work. The lawyer then decides to pay Bartleby a “twenty-dollar bill over and above whatever [is in Bartleby’s account] and tell him his services” are not necessary (674).The lawyer throws money at Bartleby instead of handing it to him in his hands. The lawyer is trying to get rid of Bartleby to let the law firm make money. Melville portrays a constant war of conscience in the lawyer's mind regarding Bartleby's actions and the lawyer's reactions. The lawyer goes to church regularly yet does not show the Christian beliefs and ethics.

One of the first ways in which Melville begins the dehumanization of the workers is through the narrator’s use of condescending nicknames for his employees: Turkey, Ginger Nut and Nippers. The reader does not know their actual names and never learns them. Their nicknames are what becomes the important commodity to the novella. When one thinks of turkey, we tend to think of an animal and not the name of a person, “Nippers” sounds like the name you would give a dog while Ginger Nut is the name of a type of cake. Why

Looking at the very first time Bartleby refuses to examine the copies, the reader might think that the narrator is going to dislike him very much, but this is not true at all. When the narrator first hears the refusal, he comes to anger very quickly. He is baffled at Bartleby’s response and proceeds to ask his other employees what their opinions might be. However, the passive nature of Bartleby turns the narrator’s anger into an appreciation for the character. The narrator even tells the reader that Bartleby “means no mischief; it is plain he intends no insolence…. he is useful to me” (Melville 152). This attitude holds strong until Bartleby refuses to do any work at all. The narrator’s thoughts turn into anger again, and he tells Bartleby that “the time has come, you must quit this place” (Melville 159). Nonetheless, after Bartleby also refuses this command, the narrator takes on the responsibility of caring for the poor man. This type of change reflects all of the characters’ changing views of Bartleby throughout the whole story.

For example, “My Finn informed me that Gatsby had dismissed every servant in his house a week ago and replaced them with half a dozen others” (114). This infers how Gatsby uses his money to protect him from rumors by paying his servants. In addition, Daisy and Tom escaped from justice and went on vacation. This example shows how Tom and Daisy are manipulated into thinking that money can solve any issue.

In Bartleby, The Scrivener, Bartleby serves as the main character with his distinct nature that everyone is trying to decipher. Despite the attention around Bartleby, much of the story also revolves around the narrator, the lawyer, who tells the story through his perspective; this implies that the lawyer’s ideology and perception of societal norms shape the interactions between the lawyer and Bartleby but also how the story is told. Take for example, if the lawyer disregards Bartleby and fires him on the spot, this story would have ended rather quickly and been much different than it actually is. With this said, the lawyer’s peculiar attraction to Bartleby’s strange behavior can be explained by the lawyer’s innate ideas of social norms and instruction that stems from the behavior of the other scriveners and his own experiences.

I should have been quite regulated with his application, had he been cheerfully industrious. But he wrote on silently, palely, mechanically." (Melville 9). This nature of working disturbed the employer because he noticed the machine-like style of Bartleby's. Bartleby's lack of human qualities bothered the narrator, as he did later become concerned about Bartleby's condition and began to inquire of his past.

1. In the story “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville the main conflict and climax of the story are very important. The main conflict in the story is between Bartleby and his isolation. Bartleby has been so isolated throughout his life that he does not know how to interact with others. For example, in this story he should have been asking for a place to live because he ended up living in the narrator’s office, but he did not.

The narrator went to great lengths to avoid a confrontation. When Bartleby refused to leave the office after being fired, the narrator chose to move his office to a different location instead of removing the eccentric man by force. The narrator informs the reader of this idea when he says, “ No more then. Since he will not quit me, I must quit him. I will change my offices.” (2422) By doing so, the narrator displays just how far man is sometimes willing to go to avoid conflict. The final theme is man’s desire to have a free conscience. Melville reveals this theme through the actions of the narrator as well as the new tenants of the office. The narrator attempts to appease his conscience by giving Bartleby money above his wages when he fired him. The new tenants of the office try to put the responsibility of dealing with Bartleby back on the narrator, but they are denied and eventually have the man removed from the premises by law officers. Herman Melville uses the actions and reactions of the characters in “Bartleby the Scrivener” to disclose three important themes, alienation, man’s desire to avoid conflict, and man’s desire to keep a free conscience. In doing so, he gives us an inside look into the workings of the human mind. The reader is left with the impression that all people, including lawyers, have compassion for other humans, and at some point, that

writings not becoming famous til after his death, " he is a strong willed man

The narrator reasons that releasing Bartleby from his job would be unnecessarily cruel which indicates his need to do the right thing. The narrator’s pity is inexplicably a reason for Bartleby’s continued employment: “What miserable friendlessness and loneliness are here revealed! His poverty is great; but his solitude how horrible!” (673). In this case, the narrator faces the challenge of giving the poor scribe a place to stay and survive or releasing Bartleby onto the streets where another employer may not be so kind. He also feels, however, that Bartleby’s quirks are not at all easy to accommodate: “In plain fact, he had now become a millstone to me, not only useless as a necklace, but afflictive to bear” (676). The narrator, in this section, faces the need to do the socially acceptable thing. After all, a man who does not work should not be paid or allowed to remain employed. As literary critic Richard J. Zlogar explained in a commentary that analogized Melville’s short story with certain parts of The Bible, “The narrator’s challenge, then, if he is to heal Bartleby’s illness in its social aspect, is the same challenge that confronted Jesus Christ in his interaction with the leper, as discussed by Crossan: he must force his peers ‘either to reject him from their community or to accept the leper within it as well’” (Zlogar 521). Zlogar’s commentary provides insight on what the narrator’s options are; he must either

The Lawyer had three other workers besides Bartleby, they were; Turkey, Nippers, and Ginger Nut. However, his fixation stayed on Bartleby. From the Lawyer’s profession, he had many encounters with different people and a broad variety of personalities. Yet there was something about Bartleby that the Lawyer never could collect an understanding of. The speaker in Bartleby states, “But I waive the biographies of all other scriveners, for a few passages in the life of Bartleby, who was a