![]() ![]() It was not a very arduous office, but very pleasantly remunerative. The good old office, now extinct in the State of New York, of a Master in Chancery, had been conferred upon me. Some time prior to the period at which this little history begins, my avocations had been largely increased. I will freely add, that I was not insensible to the late John Jacob Astor’s good opinion. I do not speak it in vanity, but simply record the fact, that I was not unemployed in my profession by the late John Jacob Astor a name which, I admit, I love to repeat, for it hath a rounded and orbicular sound to it, and rings like unto bullion. The late John Jacob Astor, a personage little given to poetic enthusiasm, had no hesitation in pronouncing my first grand point to be prudence my next, method. All who know me, consider me an eminently _safe_ man. I am one of those unambitious lawyers who never addresses a jury, or in any way draws down public applause but in the cool tranquility of a snug retreat, do a snug business among rich men’s bonds and mortgages and title-deeds. Hence, though I belong to a profession proverbially energetic and nervous, even to turbulence, at times, yet nothing of that sort have I ever suffered to invade my peace. Imprimis: I am a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best. What my own astonished eyes saw of Bartleby, _that_ is all I know of him, except, indeed, one vague report which will appear in the sequel.Įre introducing the scrivener, as he first appeared to me, it is fit I make some mention of myself, my _employees_, my business, my chambers, and general surroundings because some such description is indispensable to an adequate understanding of the chief character about to be presented. Bartleby was one of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable, except from the original sources, and in his case those are very small. ![]() I believe that no materials exist for a full and satisfactory biography of this man. While of other law-copyists I might write the complete life, of Bartleby nothing of that sort can be done. ![]() But I waive the biographies of all other scriveners for a few passages in the life of Bartleby, who was a scrivener of the strangest I ever saw or heard of. I have known very many of them, professionally and privately, and if I pleased, could relate divers histories, at which good-natured gentlemen might smile, and sentimental souls might weep. The nature of my avocations for the last thirty years has brought me into more than ordinary contact with what would seem an interesting and somewhat singular set of men, of whom as yet nothing that I know of has ever been written:–I mean the law-copyists or scriveners. Melville invites readers to question if man is failing the system or if the system is failing man.Produced by Steve J. I laughed out loud at Bartleby's irrational behavior and at the same time really wished I had been in a classroom and been able to discuss the story with peers: Is Bartleby's apathy a product of his work environment, a commentary on his generation, or suggestive of mental illness? Are his boss' actions justified, insensitive, or not punitive enough? Bartleby's refusal might suggest strength and resolve and yet he's endlessly weak and indifferent. This short story is quirky, ridiculous, and yet full of social insight. The story reaches its climax as the narrator determines something must be done to rid himself of Bartleby. Even the police cannot get Bartleby to either work or leave his passivity is all-encompassing. Each and every time he is told to work, Bartelby responds, "I would prefer not to."īecause Bartleby will neither work nor leave, his boss tries to fire him and then forcibly remove him from his office. Initially, Bartleby seems to be doing fine and is adjusting well, but soon when asked to work particular tasks, he responds with "I would prefer not to." The unnamed boss tries time and time again to get Bartelby to work-mixing up his assignments, trying to make tasks more appealing, adjusting terms-but to no avail. Subtitled "A Story of Wall Street," the story centers on a Manhattan-based lawyer who hires several scriveners (legal secretaries) to work for him, including a man named Bartleby. Melville's 1853 short story is a social critique of labor, commercialization, industry, and the relationship between work and the human spirit.
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