Katie
D. Johnson
Professor
Laura Cline
English
102
22
February 2012
In
“Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street,” Melville shares the story of
a scribe working in a law office in order to convey a social change in the
common man’s work ethic and the negative effects it will have on society. The narrator of this story is an average, yet
successful, lawyer who represents the Protestant ethics of work and
charity. Bartleby, on the other hand,
represents a new social class that shows no regard for this outdated mode of
thinking. Throughout the story, the
narrator makes countless attempts to aid Bartleby in his struggles with no
success. Melville makes it apparent that
the ways of Bartleby, and this new social class, will inevitably lead to their
own destruction.
The
narrator of this story is a middle-class man who has made his way in the world
by meeting society’s status quo. He is
not one to challenge social norms or draw attention to himself in anyway; his
success lies in conformity. “I am one of those unambitious lawyers who
never addresses a jury, or in any way draws down public applause; but in the
cool tranquility of a snug retreat, do a snug business among rich men’s bonds
and mortgages and title-deeds… my first grand point to be prudence; my next,
method.”(Melville).
It is obvious that the narrator looks for
similar virtues in the company he keeps: “…Nippers, like his compatriot Turkey,
was a very useful man to me; wrote a neat, swift hand; and, when he chose, was
not deficient in a gentlemanly sort of deportment. Added to this, he always
dressed in a gentlemanly sort of way; and so, incidentally, reflected credit
upon my chambers.”(Melville). From the
narrator’s standpoint, a successful business life requires a man to be dedicated
to his work and to comply with social expectations with a professional and
genteel demeanor. This was a typical
outlook for a Wall Street businessman at the time that Melville wrote this
story. New York in the 1850s was plagued
by poverty in the lower class and an ever-increasing population due to
immigration. Any businessman who
challenged social norms and stood in the way of success was destined to lose
his position in society and face poverty.
Initially,
the narrator believes his newly hired employee, Bartleby, to be a man who
shares in his views of propriety and industry, “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.” (Melville). Bartleby seemed to be the ideal
employee. He completed an extraordinary
quantity of work and never showed any signs of mood swings which were
characteristic of the narrator’s other employees. Indeed, the narrator was quite pleased with
his new acquisition until one day Bartleby refused to comply with his
supervisors request to help him review a document, “Imagine my surprise, nay,
my consternation, when without moving from his privacy, Bartleby in a
singularly mild, firm voice, replied, “I would prefer not to.””(Melville). “I would prefer not to” becomes Bartleby’s
response to all miscellaneous requests that are put to him. He refuses to review his work, or run
errands, or do any task other than copying documents at his desk. Then one day he announces, “I have given up
copying.”(Melville). Although Bartleby prefers not to complete any of the tasks
associated with his job, he also prefers not to quit or leave the narrator’s
office. Bartleby’s actions represent a
new social class that is no longer willing to conform to the demands of
bureaucratic society.
The
narrator is perplexed by Bartleby’s refusal to fulfill his duties or to quit
his job, and is not sure how to address the situation. He later discovers that Bartleby is living in
the office and pities his condition, “it is evident enough that Bartleby has
been making his home here, keeping bachelor’s hall all by himself. Immediately
then the thought came sweeping across me, what miserable friendlessness and
loneliness are here revealed! His poverty is great; but his solitude, how
horrible.” (Melville). Bartleby has
refused conformity and his choice is leading him down a path of social
deterioration. The narrator pities his
condition and resolves to be charitable and shelter him from the punishment
society has in store, “Poor fellow! thought I, he means no mischief; it is
plain he intends no insolence; his aspect sufficiently evinces that his
eccentricities are involuntary… If I
turn him away, the chances are he will fall in with some less indulgent
employer, and then he will be rudely treated, and perhaps driven forth
miserably to starve… To befriend Bartleby; to humor him in his strange
willfulness, will cost me little or nothing, while I lay up in my soul what
will eventually prove a sweet morsel for my conscience.” (Melville). The
narrator’s Christian charity moves him to offer aid to Bartleby in any way he
can. His only hope is to help Bartleby
until he is able to help himself.
In
order to survive on Wall Street, Bartleby must choose to assume is proper role,
but it is evident that he “would prefer not to.” The narrator patiently tries to coherse
Bartleby to fulfill his duties as a scrivener, but is unsuccessful. He finally chooses to abandon his trials and
relocate his office, deeming the situation hopeless. His fear is that since he is unable to cure
Bartleby of his condition, it is more likely that Bartleby’s attitude will
become contagious and ruin those around him, “Somehow, of late I had got into
the way of involuntarily using this word “prefer” upon all sorts of not exactly
suitable occasions. And I trembled to think that my contact with the scrivener
had already and seriously affected me in a mental way. And what further and
deeper aberration might it not yet produce?...
I thought to myself, surely I must get rid of a demented man, who
already has in some degree turned the tongues, if not the heads of myself and
clerks.” (Melville). Bartleby is left
for the next tenants to deal with and is seen, “…haunting the building
generally, sitting upon the banisters of the stairs by day, and sleeping in the
entry by night.” (Melville). Without the
charity of the narrator, Bartleby is left unsupported and picked up as a
vagrant. He is taken to the Halls of
Justice and held on a vagrancy charge until his death. At his death, the narrator closes Bartleby’s
eyes and remarks that he, “Lives without dining.” (Melville). This statement
reflects the misery that Bartleby endured living a life in disagreement with
social expectation. Had he been willing
to play his part and appreciate his good social standing, he would have also
been able to find joy in life be it by success or relationships.
Melville’s
Bartleby represents a new social class that is growing from the social unrest
in New York during the 1850s. The lower
class, made up mostly of immigrants, was experiencing extreme poverty. The narrator represents a middle class that
is bound to a rigid social structure in order maintain its affluence. Melville uses these characters to expose the
harsh reality that without this adherence to the “old ways” the middle class
and society at large faces deterioration.
Works
Cited
Melville, Herman. Bartleby, the Scrivener. A Story of
Wall-street. New York, 1853. Bartleby.com . web. 22 February 2012.
