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/>. 

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