FREE ESSAY ON BARTLEBY

BARTLEBY

Amanda Fisher
February 16, 2001
Bartleby, in Herman Melville's short story "Bartleby the Scrivener" is a character who
lives his life in utter isolation. However, it is obvious from the story that he does
affect one person's life. The narrator of the tale, an aged lawyer, is a caring figure,
though not unlike most employers, keeps his distance and rationalizes each situation. He
transformation into a sympathetic and affected character results solely from his rather
limited relationship with his employee, Bartleby. 
When Melville describes Bartleby, he presents the man as a very innocuous, unassuming
figure. "In answer to my advertisement, a motionless young man one morning stood upon my
office threshold.... I can see that figure now - pallidly neat, pitiably respectable,
incredibly forlorn" (117). From the beginning, the narrator treats him no different from
the rest of his staff; he is courteous, kind and treats the man with no disrespect. It
is, however, obvious, the narrator is a primarily an employer. He hires Bartleby, and
expects nothing more of him but to work hard. Bartleby does not disappoint either. He
"seemed to gorge himself on [the narrator's] documents" (118).
However, there is something amiss in this situation. The man is silent. He just works,
isolating himself from the office and the outside world. He almost immediately begins to
respond to any request with the phrase, "I would prefer not to" (118). At first, the
narrator is obviously surprised at this response, yet also intrigued. However, he soon
comes to dread those words, as they are the only ones said by Bartleby. For some reason,
though, the narrator cannot let Bartleby leave. Even after Bartleby refuses to work
anymore, he allows him to stay in the office, doing nothing. In doing this, the narrator
has successfully moved from distant employer to concerned human. "In plain fact, he had
now become a millstone to me, not only useless as a necklace, but afflictive to bear.
Yet, I felt sorry for him" (127). Although Bartleby has no reason for being in the
office, his employer allows him to stay, even allowing him to live there. This is most
definitely not normal office behavior. It proves the narrator does have a kind heart, and
increasingly is affected by Bartleby's passive existence as time passes.
The narrator, an apparently logical, rational man, as lawyers tend to be, goes to great
lengths to avoid conflict with the silent man. He even changes offices to rid himself of
Bartleby. In spite of this, and perhaps even a result of it, he becomes even more
entwined with the man. "Rid myself of him, I must.; go, he shall. But how? You will not
thrust him, the poor pale, passive mortal... No, I will not, I cannot do that. Rather
would I let him live and die here...." (132). Bartleby, in his solitude, has a direct
impact on the narrator's life. For most employers dealing with and employee like
Bartleby, surely force and resentment would be involved. Yet, this kind hearted old man
does not treat Bartleby with any negativity. This alone should prove that the narrator is
not the cold, calculated individual he is so often made out to be. 
As the narrator tries to remove himself from the situation with Bartleby, he finds that
it cannot be so. After leaving his office to rid himself of the disconcerting presence,
the landlord of his office suite is thoroughly surprised to find Bartleby has not left
the premises. The first person the landlord calls upon to remedy the situation is, of
course, the narrator. Grudgingly, the narrator ventures back into Bartleby's strange
world of self-isolation and desolation. After the landlord has Bartleby thrown into jail
for vagrancy, the narrator is the only one to go to see him, to try to help him. However,
the vast lonliness of Bartleby's life has already reached it's final conclusion. In a
death fitting for a figure of isolation, Bartleby has been successful in killing himself.
Though not by obvious means, rather by a gradual resistance to food, Bartleby dies.
"Strangely huddled at the base of the wall, his knees drawn up, and lying on his side,
his head touching the cold stones, I saw the wasted Bartleby. But nothing stirred. I
paused; then went up close to him; stooped over, and saw that his dim eyes were open;
otherwise he seemed profoundly sleeping" (136). He, of course, has died.
The narrator of the story emerges as introspective and affected. This transformation from
driving, self-concerned employer is surely not Bartleby's intention, however, just a
positive effect from an otherwise tragic existence. "Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!" (137)
sums up the story quite effectively. Humanity had failed Bartleby; he was thrust into a
world that seemed to isolate him at every turn. Humanity saved the narrator; he learned
tha life, above all, and "all the quiet mysteries" (124) it contained were most
important.