“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 that Bartleby’s “mild” temperament will balance out the other employees’ “flighty ...and ...fiery [tempers]” (6). Although Bartleby initially “[does] an extraordinary quantity of writing” (6), his attitude unexpectedly changes three days later. In a hurry to “complete a small affair,” the lawyer “abruptly call[s] to Bartleby” for help (7). In opposition to the narrator's “haste and natural expectancy of instant compliance” (7), Bartleby gradually “appear[s] at the entrance of his hermitage”(11), emotionlessly responses, “I prefer not to,” and “mildly disappear[s]” behind the screen (8). Over time, Bartleby continues to passively resist all of the lawyer’s requests, and his behavior becomes more and more ghostly. He limits his meals to only ginger-nut cookies, and he spends “long periods....looking out, at his pale window behind the screen, upon the dead brick wall” (14). In the weekends, he locks himself in the office, “tenanting [the] law chambers” with his “cadaverously gentlemanly nonchalance” and his “pale form… shivering [in its] winding sheet” (12). One day, the lawyer notices that all his clerks have started to adopt the word “prefer” into their everyday language.
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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 building. Several days after he moves into his new office, the landlord of No. - Wall-street approaches the narrator, reporting that Bartleby has gone totally insane. Bartleby does not sit in his corner anymore. Instead, he “persists in haunting the building generally, sitting upon the banisters of the stairs by day, and sleeping in the entry by
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 building. Several days after he moves into his new office, the landlord of No. - Wall-street approaches the narrator, reporting that Bartleby has gone totally insane. Bartleby does not sit in his corner anymore. Instead, he “persists in haunting the building generally, sitting upon the banisters of the stairs by day, and sleeping in the entry by