Who Is Bartleby The Scrivener

“Bartleby the Scrivener” by Herman Melville is a short story about an elderly lawyer’s experience when he hires a new scrivener for his office. The setting of the story takes place in 1853 New York City, a metropolis with Wall Street capitalism at its center. Much like the lawyer's other employees, Bartleby is described as having eccentric tendencies. Bartleby is a middle-class man, who must work to make ends meet through monotonous tasks and following orders of his employer (the Lawyer/narrator). Eventually, Bartleby ceases to follow these orders. Rather than be fired or removed from the building, the Lawyer attempts to connect with “the poor fellow”. In fact, the Lawyer see’s his attempt at connection as a form of good-hearted charity, saying “Poor fellow!
To befriend Bartleby will cost me little or nothing, while I lay up in my soul what will eventually prove a sweet morsel for my conscience” (Melville 10). This ‘charity’ falls flat, displayed that while the wealthy upper class may try to help the classes below them, the barriers between them will not vanish easily. Bartleby’s own passiveness and/or lack of desire to engage with the world around him can be interpreted as a critical attitude towards class and hierarchy. Ultimately, it is his lack of desire to eat that kills him, his lack of desire to engage with the greedy and materialistic world around him despite the Lawyer’s efforts. Bartleby does not try to escape the class he is in, but practices the paradox of his passive resistance which ultimately leads to his own