Bartleby, the Scrivener Essay

The nameless vote counter of the story starts off by introducing Bartleby to the readers as strange however I vacate the biographies of all other scriveners for a few passages in the life of Bartleby, who was a scrivener the strangest I ever saw or heard of (Melville 546). Through give away the wide story, the lawyer will go through numerous thought processes w here he tries to reflect and explain why Bartleby is the way that he is but the lawyer neer succeeds. We see that the narrator judges Bartleby not based on his limited k directlyledge of him but exactly because he knows nothing of Bartleby.He is strange because the narrator has never met any unmatched quite like him bizarre, unyielding and utterly devoid of human emotions. He tries to pre-empt any true understanding Bartleby by justifying this young mans strange behavior to himself. Perhaps this is because of the frustration of umpteen attempts to try and reach out to the pale scrivener that ended up brush aside by an dissolver of I p connect not to do so. In the end, he just lets e rattlingthing go with a rumor and a prayer.In the narrators first encounter with Bartleby, he would describe his impression is that of a true gentleman. In his mind, the narrator would compare the new copyist-to-be to the two presently employed copyists, misfire and Nippers. In direct contrast to the two very colorful and volatile individuals, Bartleby was something novel. He was quiet, neat, and for some reason, he is described in their first meeting as forlorn.In answer to my advertisement, a motionless young man one morning, stood upon my office threshold, the door being open, for it was summer. I can see that figure nowpallidly neat, pitiably respectable, incurably forlorn It was Bartleby (Melville 549).That Bartleby should be motionless further indicates Bartlebys remove from the sphere of common humanityin contrast to the act and emotions of the lawyer and his employees, Bartleby is still, lacking in vitality and emotion, thing-like. He is not a who, but rather a what left like a basket on the lawyers doorstep. His motionlessness and thing-like nature is reinforced by the passivity of the construction it was Bartleby. (Weinstock) Although Bartlebys manner suggests unhappiness or discontent, he never genuinely expresses any emotion in the entire story (Napierkowski). This character trait was merely attributed to him by the lawyer. Perhaps the narrator associates happiness with excitement and emotional outbursts that were diagnostic of Turkey and Nippers. Some commentaries seem to suggest this.Throughout the whole story, the narrators impressions of Bartleby would be very eclectic. At first, the lawyer was impressed with how Bartleby worked so rapidly without being distracted. The boy would work long hours and never have any need for breaks stock-still for dinner. At this point, there was no reason for alarm. Bartleby did as he was told without any complaints. He was like a mechanize d copy machine in an era where people had to copy their own documents manually. This was very advantageous in the lawyers line of work. However, in time the lawyer would be anxious about the bleakness and inhumanness of how Bartleby did his work. He was bankrupt of any emotions never sprightly never engaging in conversation with his co-workers.At first Bartleby did an extraordinary quantity of writing. As if long famishing for something to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my documents. There was no pause for digestion. He ran a day and night line, copying by sun-light and by candle-light. I should have been quite delighted with his application, had be been cheerfully industrious. But he wrote on silently, palely, automatonlikely (Melville 550).The conflict would arise the first time Bartleby refuses to check the documents he made for errors. This came as a shock to the lawyer because he was always with the understanding that he was the employer and Bartleby was the employee a nd as such, Bartleby had to follow his every bidding with regards to his official duties. Apparently, for the old lawyer, this behavior was unheard of for employees in his line of work.I looked at him steadfastly. His face was leanly composed his gray eye dimly calm. Not a wrinkle of agitation rippled him. Had there been the least uneasiness, anger, impatience or incrustation in his manner in other words, had there been any thing ordinarily human about him, doubtless I should have violently dismissed him from the premises. But as it was, I should have as soon thought of turning my pale plaster-of-paris bust of Cicero out of doors. I stood gazing at him awhile, as he went on with his own writing, and then reseated myself at my desk. This is very strange, thought I (Melville 550).The narrator thought that any other time and with any other person, he would have been outraged. But Bartlebys passivity and serenity caught him off guard. Again, he would describe Bartleby as someone who wa s not ordinary. From his first refusal, the lawyer has placed Bartleby orthogonal the actuallym of human possibilities. By his own admission, our narrator, a man of virtuous expediency, has been strangely disarmed, touched and disconcerted (Davis 183). He was confused about what to do with this matchless copyist. He decided to just let it go for the moment and let the other two employees work on the examination.Many of these refusals would follow. Bartlebys disobedience had no hint of resistance or rebellion. His responses were given merely as a matter of fact and this left the lawyer unmanned. Also, these were not mere mechanical or automatic refusals. According to the lawyer, Bartleby seemed to thoughtfully consider the requests before turning them down. It seemed to me that while I had been addressing him, he carefully revolved every statement that I made fully comprehended the meaning could not gainsay the irresistible conclusion but, at the same time, some paramount conside ration prevailed with him to reply as he did (Melville 551).Bartleby apparently had no life outside the office. The only thing he knew was work and he never stopped working. They never saw him out of the office (until he was forced out) and they never asked him why. At this point in time, they were allowing the status quo to remain just as long as no real trouble would ensue. Some long time passed, the scrivener being employed upon another lengthy work. His late remarkable conduct led me to regard his way narrowly. I observed that he never went to dinner indeed that he never went any where. As yet I had never of my personal knowledge cognize him to be outside of my office. He was a perpetual sentry in the corner (Melville 551).There were several critical points when the lawyer would refer to Bartleby as station or valuable acquisition. As much as he wanted to get rid of the unexplainable employee, he was proving to be an asset. He was predictable, he worked very hard and he neve r had to stop. This dehumanization does not help him at all to understand the poor boy. This revealed the darker side of the narrator the human side.As days passed on, I became considerably reconciled to Bartleby. His steadiness, his freedom from all dissipation, his incessant industry (except when he chose to throw himself into a standing revery behind his screen), his great stillness, his unalterableness of style under all circumstances, made him a valuable acquisition (Melville 553).xxxIt was rather weak in me I confess, but his manner on this occasion nettled me. Not only did there seem to lurk in it a certain disdain, but his perverseness seemed ungrateful, considering the undeniable good usage and craziness he had received from me (Melville 555).This is another instance confirming the fact that Bartleby never went anywhere except the office. The lawyer discovered this later when he visited his office one Sunday when all other people were either at church or gathering for th e recently concluded elections. He found that Bartleby was making his home plate in the same place where he worked. At this point, the lawyer felt sorry for Bartleby even if he was far from understanding this enigmatic fellow.Think of it. Of a Sunday, Wall-street is deserted as Petra and every night of every day it is an emptiness. This building too, which of week-days hums with industry and life, at nightfall echoes with sheer vacancy, and all through Sunday is forlorn. And here Bartleby makes his home sole spectator of a solitude which he has seen all populousa sort of innocent and transformed Marius brooding among the ruins of Carthage (Melville 553)After many other disagreements and stoic refusals, the lawyer would lose his patience with Bartleby and move his business to a different location, leaving Bartleby behind. Later on, Bartleby would turn out to be an disorder to the new tenants of the lawyers previous office. He would come to Bartlebys rescue first with compassion by trying to explain to him that he had to trust and that he will be given employment somewhere else. Once again, the lawyer is frustrated by Bartlebys stubbornness and disinterest in the other than attractive proposals of his former employer. The occupants of the office would have Bartleby arrested and locked up in toss.When the lawyer hears about this, he would immediately go to visit Bartleby. The lawyer then asks the jail personnel to be good to Bartleby because he is a good man no matter how strange he may be The same day I received the note I went to the Tombs, or to speak more properly, the Halls of Justice. Seeking the right officer, I stated the purpose of my call, and was informed that the individual I described was indeed within. I then assured the functionary that Bartleby was a perfectly honest man, and greatly to be compassionated, however unaccountably eccentric (Melville 613).In describing Bartleby, the lawyer is actually revealing more of himself. He is revealing his biases and prejudices. He is revealing his materialism, pride and compassion. He reveals different aspects of his personality while Bartleby displays nothing at all. Some writers describe Bartleby, the Scrivener as a story wracked with rescuerian symbols and yet it falls short of Messianic value. Indeed, Melvilles story would seem to be a parody of the parable, as we see a self-professed saved Christian attempt the good deeds of the Biblical Samaritan but, ironically, still fall short of Christs divine injunction, spiritually hampered by his self-justifying, earthbound prudence. (Doloff 357). The lawyer was a good man who honestly wanted to help Bartleby.The was never unkind to Bartleby even in the times of his gravest impatience. However, it was his earthly prudence that kept bringing him back to rationalizing the situation in terms of how it would benefit him. His feelings for Bartleby undergo several changes in this short story.He would begin with curiosity, followed by amazem ent, then impatience, compassion, disgust, and finally friendship. This was a story about the limits of human understanding and compassion. That no matter how little the narrator truly knew about Bartleby, it was the fact that they were sons of Adam that created this instant connection and invokes true compassion. In the end, Bartleby was no longer a novelty or an object of fascination. The narrator would refer to him as a friend.Works CitedMelville, Herman. Bartleby, the Scrivener. Putnams monthly magazine of American literature,science and art Volume 2, Issue 11((Nov. 1853)) 546-550 609-616.Bartleby the Scrivener. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 12 Jul 2006, 0837 UTC. WikimediaFoundation, Inc. 14 Aug 2006.Bartleby the Scrivener, A Tale of Wall Street Bartleby. poor Stories for Students. Ed. MarieRose Napierkowski. Vol. 3. Detroit Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 14 August2006. .Johnson, Claudia Durst. Bartleby the Scrivener. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. 2006. GrolierOn line. 14 Aug. 2006 .Woodlief, Ann. Bartleby the Scrivener Web Study Text. Virginia population University. 15Aug. 2006 .Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, Doing Justice to Bartleby, ATQ (The American TranscendentalQuarterly) 17.1 (2003), Questia, 14 Aug. 2006.Steven Doloff, The Prudent Samaritan Melvilles Bartleby, the Scrivener as Parody of ChristsParable to the Lawyer, Studies in Short Fiction 34.3 (1997) 357, Questia, 14 Aug. 2006.Todd F. Davis, The Narrators Dilemma in Bartleby the Scrivener The Excellently IllustratedRe-statement of a Problem, Studies in Short Fiction 34.2 (1997) 183, Questia, 14 Aug. 2006 .