Bartleby: A Disturbed Clerk
An Analysis of Characters from Bartleby the Scrivener
Herman Melville, the author most famous perhaps for his Moby Dick, has created a singularly interesting and yet simultaneously boring character in "Bartleby, the Scrivener." He describes the activities, or rather perhaps the lack of activities, of a simple clerk in the office of a lawyer. This man, without any known motivation, behaves in an entirely peculiar fashion. It becomes clear that he suffers from some sort of mental or emotional problem, and is never cured despite the best intentions of the lawyer who employs him.
The role of a scrivener is to copy legal documents by hand as required by a lawyer. This process must be done by hand and is very tedious and boring in the eyes of most people. The particular lawyer in this story had previously employed two scriveners, but due to an increased workload is forced to take on another. This third scrivener is Bartleby.
"At first Bartleby did an extraordinary quantity of writing. As if long famishing for something to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my documents. There was no pause for digestion. He ran a day and night line, copying by sun-light and by candle-light."
Of course after a document has been copied, its accuracy must be confirmed. It is at this point that Bartleby's stranger mannerisms become apparent. The lawyer asks Bartleby to help check a paper, to which he replies that he would "prefer not to." As the story progresses we learn that Bartleby prefers not to do many things. No reason is ever given why this odd man refuses to do these things, required of him by his position. This is not the oddest quirk of Bartleby.
"Yet, thought I, it is evident enough that Bartleby has been making his home here, keeping bachelor's hall all by himself. Immediately then the thought came sweeping across me, What miserable friendlessness and loneliness are here revealed! His poverty is great; but his solitude, how horrible!"
Bartleby actually lives in the law offices of his employer. He does not seem to have any friends or relations, eats precious little, and will not speak about his past. Indeed, he will not speak much at all on any subject. He is a recluse for reasons unknown. Then he stops copying too. He is now a useless fixture in the office. He prefers not to do anything useful at all, and yet will not leave either.
The lawyer, despite some outbursts of frustration, does his best to help Bartleby on his way. Several times he offers Bartleby extra money and tells him that he is no longer needed at the office. Bartleby refuses to go, remaining silent in the office. He never says why he prefers not to leave, and forces the reader to wonder whether he himself knows why.
"...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."
The lawyer never succeeds in convincing Bartleby to leave his offices. For a time he accepts this since Bartleby seems harmless, but eventually his presence is harmful to the lawyer's practice. The lawyer moves to a new office. He never calls in police to deal with Bartleby, or removes him by force. He reasons, "Since he will not quit me, I must quit him. I will change my offices..." By this point the lawyer has already done everything he can to help Bartleby.
Even in his new offices the lawyer is haunted by Bartleby. The strange clerk continues to live in the building of the old offices. It is clear here that Bartleby suffers some form of mental retardation or other mental/emotional problem. Perhaps he says it best when he says in reply to a suggestion by the lawyer, "No; I would prefer not to make any change." He frightens the other tenants by his constant presence, and in the end the police are called in and Bartleby is relocated to a prison.
Even when the pitiful clerk is locked away, the lawyer tries to help this him. He visits him, pays for him to receive the best food possible, and tries to unravel the psychological mystery that is Bartleby. But Bartleby seems to prefer not to live anymore. He eats very little, and finally dies in a prison courtyard. His mental condition and past are still unknown when the lawyer comes upon him one last time as he lies dead on the ground.
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