Blog Post 1, Topic 2

Bartleby is the main character of Herman Melville’s 1853 short story Bartleby the Scrivener. The story is told by a “rather elderly man” who works on Wall-Street as a lawyer and is Bartleby’s boss. Bartleby and his two fellow employees, nicknamed Turkey and Nippers by the speaker, worked as scriveners- scribes copying legal documents the way modern day scanning machines do. The narrator is at first impressed with Bartleby’s effort in his work but soon becomes aware of Bartleby’s passively defiant disposition and recurring response “I’d prefer not to”. Although one may sympathize for Bartleby because of the monotonous and dehumanizing task of copying papers, Bartleby’s intractable behavior is inappropriate and is an unsuitable response to his circumstances.

The easiest way to decide whether or not Bartleby’s demeanor is acceptable is to compare his abnormal behavior to that of his co-workers. Melville chose to include very detailed evaluations of the two other employees of the story. In fact, he even introduced them to the reader before adding the business of Bartleby’s employment. This organization of the story gives the reader an awareness of the current situation in order to better understand Bartleby’s actions (or in this case, inaction). The structure allows us to make assumptions and conclusions about Bartleby relative to similar individuals who share the same occupation during this period of history. The picture Melville paints of the two employees is rather distasteful and a bit comical. When readers first meet Bartleby he seems nothing short of a gift to this slightly dysfunctional office. This perception changes when Bartleby invariably chooses the phrase (or a form of the phrase) “I’d prefer not to” to reply to the questions, pleadings, and demands of his boss. Although the shortcomings of the other employees made them poor laborers, they were compliant and enthusiastic about their work and  did not condone Bartleby’s overt insubordination.

As if his incapability to do his complete job weren’t enough, Bartleby begins to trespass on his boss’s office and sleep there overnight. This mischief is tolerated by the boss although Bartleby goes so far as to prevent his boss's entry into the office until Bartleby was ready. It is quite obvious at this point to recognize that Bartleby is a liability to the boss and he is a character not to be reasoned with. I found it annoying that the boss rationalized all of this peculiar and unruly behavior and even had to put down the story every now and then to compose myself for more of the same “I’d prefer not to” absurdity. This passive aggressive manner from Bartleby even manages to pervade the office members and insidiously finds its way into the speech of the boss and the two other scriveners. What’s worse is that the term “prefer” is being used by the scriveners subconsciously and even the boss notes “that it involuntarily rolled from his tongue” when referring to one Nippers’ responses.

It is clear that an individual such as Bartleby is destructive to the office’s culture and his response to his rather comfortable circumstances is completely unbecoming. His boss made multiple attempts to console him and provide for him but he was ungracious and took advantage of his boss's civility. Although one may dwell on Bartleby’s rather unfortunate past, it is clear that he was not even grateful for the improvement of living provided to him in his new job.