Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of
Wall-street.
Bartleby, the
Scrivener: A Story of Wall-street by, Herman Melville is Grim, yet almost
comical telling of a man who has become an empty shell, one who has lost
himself and his ambition not just in his occupation, but in life. As you begin
to read the story of a dry, dull and gloomy man named Bartleby who comes to
find work as a scrivener in a Wall-street law office as a copyist, you begin to
realize that he is much more than just a key character in a story. Bartleby’s character represents the
deterioration of the work place, the toll the changing times have brought on us,
and the emotions brought on by such changes. Throughout the story the narrator
speaks of himself and acknowledges himself as part of the greater whole of a society
who would rather hide behind closed doors, or go unnoticed than deal with
adversity or trying issues. “Ah, happiness courts the light, so we deem the
world is gay; but misery hides aloof, so we deem that misery there is none.”
(Melville, par 89), as the narrator states, in short, he is simply saying we
pretend all is well, when deep down all is not. Bartleby is not just a victim
of circumstances of his own will but a representation of how most are truly
feeling. Throughout the story you will see the almost intoxicating like affect
that Bartleby has on his employer (the narrator), as well as the other
scriveners in the story.
The narrator's
self-characterization in the story explains that he is a "safe" man.
He is one who takes very few risks and tries above all to calculate and
conform. He feels that the easiest paths in life are also the best. His
priorities are that of the up most concerns of financial security and the ease
of life. While working as a lawyer and dealing with other rich men’s legal
documents, he has found himself very comfortable in the modern economy. This
makes him an almost, opposite or mirror image to the offices’ new scrivener and
they complement each other in numerous ways. In the bleak Wall-street officer
of our narrator the other two scrivener characters, “Turkey” and Nippers” seem
to mirror each other as well. Turkey, a rather large Englishmen, is productive
in the office during the morning, but is drunk and useless in the afternoon.
While Nippers on the other side is useless and disgruntle in the morning is
quite productive in the afternoon. While these to characters have some
differences, one being there age, they share a come task, that is bring some
comic relief or value in a dull and upsetting scene.
The story of
Bartleby is one of corporate discontent and emptiness of modern business life.
The description of the Wall-street office is descripted as a dark, somber and bleak
modern dungeon. On one side of the office the window looks out on to a brick
wall that resembles a blackened curtain and the other a small isolated shaft of light fall into the
office from between the high rise buildings above. The landscape of Wall Street
is completely unnatural, and that is cut off from almost all of our natural
surroundings. At night, this isolation from our surroundings also includes the
absence of people. This work environment is sterile and cheerless, but most
adopt it with varying degrees of success. Even though the narrator seems to be
a successful man, he can also be viewed as a victim of circumstance and
progress as his current position fell on him after his earlier position in law
was illuminated, when it was no longer needed.
As Bartleby is
introduced and described in the story he is descripted as if he is a ghost or
sad spirit. Bartleby is described also
as if he was a corpse or machine. He is pale from his work indoors,
expressionless, motionless and cold. He lacks of human passion or compassion.
The narrator describes him as a man who has been beaten and broken down from
life and has lost all sense of happiness.
During the story the narrator ask Bartleby to do various simple and
regular tasks around the office, the same as he expects from his other
employees. Yet when these are asked of Bartleby, instead of obedience, he is
met with a simple request that become famous of Bartleby, “I would prefer not
to”. This was however, not seen as a simple act of defiance but a request of an
exhausted and beaten man. This simple and very passive statement is one that
seems to mesmerize the narrator and cast a spell over him. Throughout the story
Bartleby seems to become more detached from his surrounds each time he “prefers
not to” do something. He slowly becomes more phantom or sprit like throughout
the duration of the story as he pulls farther away from his occupation and
society. “Like a very ghost, agreeably to the laws of magical invocation, at
the third summons, he appeared at the entrance of his hermitage" (par 19).
While Bartleby’s characteristics
are that of a good worker, they are also that of a machine; very constant,
robotic and unwavering. It also seems that Bartleby has become a fixture at the
office, constantly there with an almost haunting effect. These notions are only
strengthened by the fact that it is found that Bartleby is living in the office
and sleeps in the abandoned office on Wall-street at night. At first consistency
seems to impress the narrator, but bartleby’s actions, or lack thereof begins
to wear on him. The narrator begins to sense there are parallels between
himself and Bartleby, in which the scrivener’s gloomy sadness affects him more
and more. The scriveners character draws the narrator into depths of feeling
that he was unaware he was capable of. A large portion of Bartleby's power over
the narrator is that he somehow sees Bartleby as a part of himself. He sees
that he has also been forced to adapt to the unforgiving business world. He
feels while he has adapted and gone through the consequent numbing, Bartleby
has also been pushed to exhaustion, to the point where nothing pleases him
about this world and in at times the narrator to help Bartleby overcome his
current state. The narrator feels a sense of obligation and compassion to help Bartleby
because he is a living, suffering being, and that both men are "sons of
Adam," the narrator arguably should do everything he can for him.
After considerable attempts
to ignore bartleby’s state and numerous attempts to help him the narrator
becomes frustrated, feeling that he is inconveniencing bartleby’s life. He
approaches the scrivener with money and tells him it is time for him to leave
the office. Bartleby rejects the offer a states that he would “prefer not to”
leave. The realization come to the narrator that Bartleby is a reflection of
him, after learning to Bartleby had lost his Dead Letter office job due to a
similar fate as his own. The narrator realizes that Bartleby was haunting the
office as he was his old office suite. He finds himself returning to his old
office which he refers to as his “old haunt”. It isn’t until after Bartleby is
jailed and he comes to visit him that he realizes that they are one in the
same. That they are a reflection of one another, victims of circumstances of
the new business world. That they are as cold, bleak and empty as the office
walls of wall-street that they both seem to haunt. In the world that the
narrator thrived and one that exhausted Bartleby, I realize that Bartleby
represents the deterioration of humanity in the unforgiving, constant, cold,
caculating machine that is the business world.
Works Cited:
Melville, Herman. "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of
Wall-street." Bartleby. N.p., 2011. Web. 19 Feb 2012.
<http://www.bartleby.com/129/>.
INFO ON BARTLEBY AND HERMAN MELVILLE
