Bartleby The Scrivener Response

The short story of Bartleby, The Scrivener by Herman Melville is a reflection on capitalism in America during the 19th century, especially in the office, a job far different than most at the time. In Bartleby, The Scrivener, an unnamed narrator has four workers who work for his law office as scriveners. Bartleby, a new hire, works well at first, but slowly begins to resist doing his work, and begins living at the office. The narrator at first feels pity, but soon gets him arrested, where Bartleby starves himself to death in prison. The themes Melville explores in this short story can be connected to his own life and hardships, and also the life of office workers in America and Wall Street. Bartleby, The Scrivener is a critique of the American

He grew up in New York City and when his father passed away 1832, his family was left struggling financially. Melville suffered with depression and anxiety throughout his whole life, most likely perpetuated by hardships in his life. Though he is considered a successful writer and his works like “Mobey Dick” have become American classics, he struggled later in his career with his new works. Many of his stories can be seen as a reflection of the struggles in his life, such as Bartleby, The Scrivener. Bartleby is a lonely and depressed character faced with hardships similar to Melville, and Bartleby is most likely sort of a projection of Melville and how he felt when writing some of his later

The cubical office culture can be isolating and make workers seem less human as they are expected to just come in and do their jobs for hours at a time. In the 19th century, many jobs were dangerous and involved copious amounts of physical labor. There also were not the same labor laws and regulations as there are now, so more times than not, business owners and bosses were unfair to their employees. To many, office jobs were looked down on and seen as “lazy work”, but office jobs were just as mentally taxing as they were physical. This can be seen in Bartleby, The Scrivener with Bartleby and his behavior. He becomes unproductive at his job and begins to stop following the orders of the narrator by only responding to him with “I would prefer not to,”. His laziness and lack of cooperation can be seen as the mental toll being isolated at work can do. Bartleby’s previous job at the “Dead Letter Office” may have made him feel dehumanized, as his job handling the letters was tedious and he had no way to be creative or express himself. It most likely made him depressed and feeling as if he was “just another worker”, and despite him doing no work under the narrator, he may have begun living out of the office just out of the fear of being replaced. When Bartleby is jailed, he starves himself and dies, which can show that because he is not at the office, he feels he has no purpose and has no reason or will to live.