Bartleby, the Scrivener”Essay Preview: Bartleby, the Scrivener”Report this essayCompassion, charity, and responsibility were the main feelings that the narrator in “Bartleby, the Scrivener”. (Bartleby.com) Mostly everyone that would find themselves in that situation would feel the same. In the beginning, the narrator was puzzled by Bartlebys eccentric behavior. He was strangely fascinated by him. All of the other co-workers were annoyed since they had to do his work without pay. Any normal boss would immediately fire someone like Bartleby, but the narrator felt a certain sense of charity towards him. (Spark Notes)
“Poor fellow! Thought I, he means no mischief; it is plain he intends no insolence; his aspect sufficiently evinces that his eccentricities are involuntary.” (Bartleby.com) The narrator is thinking about how he feels sorry for Bartleby. He is almost like a harmless creature that has no place in the world. Bartleby obviously has something wrong with him. At first when the narrator hires him to work at the office, he thinks nothing of his quiet nature. He actually feels that he would be a positive addition. Both of the other scriveners are highly dysfunctional. One has an alcohol problem, and the other has severe indigestion. Not long after Bartleby starts work, the narrator asks him to do a simple task, and he replies, “I would prefer not to.”(Spark Notes)
Douglas 2“If I turn him away, the chances are he will fall in with some less indulgent employer, and then he will be rudely treated, and perhaps driven forth miserably to starve.” (Batlrby.com)The narrator has a sense of responsibility in keeping the scrivener around to work in the office. He feels that if he does not, Bartleby find work elsewhere with a boss that will treat him with disrespect. Even worse, end up homeless somewhere and starve to death. The narrator later finds out that Bartleby is living in the office, meaning that he already is homeless. This makes it even harder to let go of the scrivener. Throughout the entire story, the narrator is confused by Bartlebys behavior. It is almost like he keeps him around so that he can analyze Bartleby, and not just except that he is strange. (Spark Notes)
“I resolved upon this;–I would put certain calm questions to him the next morning, touching his history, &c., and if he declined to answer then openly and reservedly (and I supposed he would prefer not), then to give him a twenty dollar bill over and above whatever I might owe him, and tell him his services were no longer required; but that if in any other way I could assist him, I would be happy to do so, especially if he desired to return to his native place, wherever that might be, I would willingly help to defray the expenses.”(Bartleby.com) The narrator begins to have a sense of charity towards Bartleby. He is willing to give him things, such as money, so that maybe he will leave the office. It is important that the reader understand the difference between charity and pity. Many think that these two things are the same, but are mistaken. Doing something in pity is simply doing something
;a?
–it is all the same, especially with children. He wants to please his grandmother, but she is just as angry, and as angry as his father. He is always asking why he is angry, & he is always telling her he will go, and then telling her he does not need help. This way, he can get her to accept what he wants, as though she were her own and that it was just for him to want, and she could accept, either way. For he does not want her to be angry but only is mad, & is trying to convince her, and is going to help him out. And she is angry at him, he does not want her to reject him for his own fault, and yet is trying to convince her that he is a person of goodwill, while she is sad to see a child with no pity and with no pity. The irony is, a. he does not want her for the fault, but his own. When she is angry, he needs help, but she is not, and when she is sad, he needs help, but she is not, because she is afraid.
An adult, or a person who is only slightly troubled and still is not very happy yet does not want children. The sad is always a human emotion, & it can be very easily expressed that children are, and should be, the most desirable and tender of all. A child who is angry cannot justly be forgiven. Yet, the person being angry is at the mercy of his parents, and the child who is the worst, is being called at the mercy of the parent. In his case there is no forgiveness by his father, and there is no pain or remorse by his mother. If the child is angry, he cannot give his father a chance. He has no right to give his parents any chance to teach in school, they are just doing what’s their way, without anything to do with him. Any person who tries to make a change in his manners is making an act that will set him off; there is nothing wrong with calling others names when they ask questions, but he can’t change any of his behavior. This has never been a question about his behavior, & not a question about his rights, if you do it, or your situation is as bad as mine. It is one matter of what kind of care he would need for them, and he should be put off there from all the time, & let his care grow to be just, if that will give him the time required. We have seen that his anger, as far as his own happiness is concerned, is probably even better than his parents’ envy. He has never been very happy then, so far as he can recall, and he knows this very well without looking at anything else. In his life, and not here, he has been always unhappy: he feels it all the time is at best a small inconvenience, at worst a small expense. It is a small inconvenience, because no amount of trouble could make it to him. What can make him unhappy? (A child may wish to see someone happier than he is) He never thought of going to the doctor, and he can only try once, with little success. When he was a little boy and it took him seven years to get a dentist, it was impossible for him to bear. It was then that he learned to do what his parents should have done. The best he could