Bartleby The Scrivener Rhetorical Analysis

In Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener,” the narrator who runs a business on the Wall Street told us about the story of a scrivener who worked for him named Bartleby. He finished tons of copying and sometimes would not even take a rest from his duties. One day, Bartleby refused to do his duties when asked by his boss. He also stopped doing his duties and did not want to make changes to himself. This echoes Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Self-Reliance”, where Emerson argued about non-conformity. He believed people should do what they think is right no matter what others think. In Melville’s story, Bartleby was not conforming at the same level as his co-workers in the law office. For him, the law office was a place that would bring displeasure …show more content…
In particular, the boss asked Bartleby to examine the paper after copying them. However, Bartleby responded “I would prefer not to” (Melville ) without hesitation. His decision was too decisive. The decision that came from his mind was unchangeable, a quality that he has that makes him impossible to question. This critique of the value of non-conformity echoes Emerson’s statement that “Whoso would be a man must be a non-conformist” (Emerson 3). This means a person is a true man if they are willing to not conform to the rules. For example, a person says he or she will be willing to accept eight-dollars per hour because he or she is the type of person who does not want to find another job, but another person says he or she would like to take ten-dollars per hour. In case of Bartleby, he simply did not want to do additional works when his boss asked him to do so. He was breaking the rules of the office by not following the orders or his …show more content…
Bartleby responded “No, I would prefer not make change” (Melville ) He just did not want to make any changes at that point of his life. He was just being himself. Nobody really knows what he wanted to do in his life. Perhaps he was just waiting for the right things he would prefer to do. This analysis related to Emerson’s statement “What must I do is all concerns me, not what the people think” (Emerson 4). For instance, if someone tells another person to get a car or motorcycle. It is not as important as paying bills, which the careless person has to do. For Bartleby, he was only concerned about his duties or the things he has been doing. He could be careless about what other people have to say or tell him what he should do.
Bartleby was a true non-conformist. Anyone could tell that by imagining his work style. He disobeyed the rules in the office and was even worse than Turkey and Nippers. At least they would still do their job even if only at a certain time they preferred to. Bartleby was completely different from the other employees and had his own system of work. He was being himself and did not want to follow any orders from his boss. It would be hard for anyone to consider him genius because he was mentally