“Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street” narrates a story of a peculiar man, Bartleby, who initially works as a “subordinate clerk in the Dead Letter Office in Washington” (29). Every day, he holds the responsibility of handling cart-load of “dead letters” and “assorting them for the flames” (29). One day, a sudden change in administration forces Bartleby to forsake his position at the office. In search for a job, Bartleby appears in front of a lawyer’s “office threshold” (6), hoping to secure a position as a scrivener in the lawyer’s “law chamber.” Although Bartleby’s “motionless… pallidly neat, pitiably respectable, incurably forlorn” figure reflects the characteristics of a corpse, the lawyer still decides to hire him, believing
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Realizing that his “contact with [Bartleby is] seriously [affecting] him [and his clerks] in a mental way” (16), the lawyer sets out to fire Bartleby. The narrator hands Bartleby thirty-two dollars and demands him to “unconditionally leave the office” (18) in six days’ time. Unfortunately, Bartleby refuses to quit, and he continues to dwell in his corner, staring blankly at the “loft brick wall. Black by age and everlasting shade.” (2).
In a way, Bartleby serves a distorted mirror that reflects the dead letters he used to handle at the Dead Letter Office. No one knows “who he [is], whence he came, or whether he [has] any relatives in the world” (14). Bartleby’s constant staring at the brick wall proves that he has reached a “dead end,” and he has no other destination to travel to. He has decided to dwell in the Wall-street building perpetually.
The news of Bartleby’s strange behavior gradually spreads through the lawyer’s “circle of professional acquaintance (22). Fearing that Bartleby will ruin his professional reputation, the lawyer resolves to cut his bond with Bartleby. Because the narrator’s Christian conscience forbids him to “turn [the scrivener] out by actual thrusting… drive him away by calling him hard names… [or call] in the police”(20), the narrator decides to move his “law chambers” to a different
Realizing that his “contact with [Bartleby is] seriously [affecting] him [and his clerks] in a mental way” (16), the lawyer sets out to fire Bartleby. The narrator hands Bartleby thirty-two dollars and demands him to “unconditionally leave the office” (18) in six days’ time. Unfortunately, Bartleby refuses to quit, and he continues to dwell in his corner, staring blankly at the “loft brick wall. Black by age and everlasting shade.” (2).
In a way, Bartleby serves a distorted mirror that reflects the dead letters he used to handle at the Dead Letter Office. No one knows “who he [is], whence he came, or whether he [has] any relatives in the world” (14). Bartleby’s constant staring at the brick wall proves that he has reached a “dead end,” and he has no other destination to travel to. He has decided to dwell in the Wall-street building perpetually.
The news of Bartleby’s strange behavior gradually spreads through the lawyer’s “circle of professional acquaintance (22). Fearing that Bartleby will ruin his professional reputation, the lawyer resolves to cut his bond with Bartleby. Because the narrator’s Christian conscience forbids him to “turn [the scrivener] out by actual thrusting… drive him away by calling him hard names… [or call] in the police”(20), the narrator decides to move his “law chambers” to a different