Bartleby – the Scrivener
In the story, Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street by Herman Melville, the main character, Bartleby has astonishing behaviors that take the narrator by surprise. Bartleby, a legal copyist, is a quiet, passive, and one who never gets angry easily. Despite these positive attributes, he is unyielding in the office of the lawyer. According to him, life is a pointless process, and he will never pretend to have an interest in it. He says the he “will prefer not to,” a remark that indicates his total loss of enthusiasm in life. He says this every time the lawyer ask him to proof read a document. It is a mark of refusal to perform his duty, a thing that turns into a ritual that encompasses his life. This remark ritual finally kills him when he says, “I would prefer not to” eat.
The character traits of Bartleby the copyist are not evident when he arrives at the office of the lawyer after he is hired. He is a controlled and composed man trusted with the responsibilities to do some copying. He dramatically changes when he adopts, what one can describe as a slogan, “I would prefer not to.” The mantra is a firm and the politely cold reaction that prohibits the lawyer from taking any action on him. This puts Bartleby in a situation of free will. He is in total freedom doing as he wills in the office of the lawyer. He had changed the job into his home.
Bartleby is a conundrum spiced with anonymity within an enigma. He is the hardest character to understand, not only to the reader but also to the lawyer.
The prime of his riddle character leads to the frustration of the readers because the puzzles go unresolved up to the end of the story. The question of what exactly makes Bartleby behave in this manner is never answered in the course of the narration. Apart from his motives in Bartleby funny behavior, several other issues rise in the readers mind. First, because he prefers not to do his responsibilities, what would he prefer to do? Second, the rest of the society does what is required of them, so why cannot he do what is required of him? These questions have not been answered and have been the secret code readers, and critics have been trying to solve for a century and a half.
The story does not present to the reader with any clue that can see to attempt to describe Bartlebys character. The journey to try to understand him is futile. To avoid the dark route in trying to understand what is not told of him in the story, the best approach is to analyze what the reader knows in the context of its meaning. The word (name) Melville that has been used severally to describe the copyist is an adjective meaning pale, pitiful and to a more extreme case corpselike. The adjective depicts a case of unhealthy scenario, an image that is hard to ignore and dismiss it offhandedly. Bartleby, a character of weak physique, is a man of strong mental