Bartleby the Scrivener

 

Bartleby the Scrivener, a story by Herman Melville, is my favorite story we've read in class. I think it really speaks volumes to the human existence, to what we all actually are. Bartleby is a character that we all see, even if we don't pay attention to him. His famous one liner is "I would prefer not to." We all have likes and dislikes, we all have things we'd prefer to do, and prefer not to do, and Bartleby is the one who doesn't filter these preferences out. He speaks them.

Every day, we go about our lives doing things we don't want to, either because we don't think we have the right to refuse, because we're scared, or because we don't realize we have choices. Bartleby makes the choices. However, in his preferring not to participate, we also see him reach the downfall and end of his life.

Perhaps this really shines a light on life as a whole. We have to do things we don't want to do, in order to survive. We have to follow other people's orders, and always have someone else to answer to. If we only follow our own desires, then we will ultimately fail. People need people, which is also apparent in that Bartleby spends his whole life alone. He has no family, no friends, and his only relationship lies in his boss telling him to work, which obviously goes nowhere. By isolating himself, Bartleby is only hurting himself. He needs to be able to talk to someone, to work for someone, to share ideas from someone, to learn from someone, and to love someone. We all do. I almost think Bartleby stems from the human fear of being alone. To an extent, everyone has to be afraid of winding up alone. Bartleby's loneliness goes one step further-- it kills him.

The narrator himself is an incredibly important character. To me, he symbolizes our lack of power. He wants to make Bartleby work, because that is his job. He has all sorts of feelings towards Bartleby-- from "overpowering stinging melancholy" to repulsion. There was a quote that is very important to the narrator's feelings towards Bartleby, which goes as follows: "So true it is, and so terrible, too, that up to a certain point the thought or sight of misery enlists our best affections; but in certain special cases, beyond that point it does not. They err who would assert that invariably this is owing to the inherent selfishness of the human heart." After not being able to help Bartleby, he grows tired of Bartleby's misery. After not being able to win a battle, we grow sick of it. The narrator even invites Bartleby to his home, but to no avail. We could say that he should have tried harder, he should have drug Bartleby somewhere, got him help, but really it was not his responsibility. He tried, but Bartleby would not let himself be helped. The narrator was powerless, even though he went through a range of emotions and wants for Bartleby. In the end, he sees his employee die, and is only left with the reflection of it-- "Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!"