“Bartleby the Scrivener” In Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener,” the nameless lawyer-narrator faces conflict with Bartleby, a challenging man who works as a copyist for the narrator but initially seems to have little respect for his boss. This is due to Bartleby’s constant response of “I would prefer not to” to anything requested of him. The narrator comes to a realization that Bartleby’s apparent rudeness stems from his way of living, or lack thereof. He believes that because of Bartleby’s previous employment in the Dead Letter Office, Bartleby lost all sanity, and this explains the reasoning behind his disregard of all requests made of him. The narrator initially describes Bartleby as an impressively productive worker, specifically when compared to the other two copyists who may as well have been working part time for their inconsistent work. He describes Bartelby’s work ethic, saying: “As if long famishing for something to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my documents. …show more content…
This provides a first detail of Bartleby’s character to the narrator, as he has a chance to see his disinterest in anything but working. Following this moment came a series of events in which the narrator proposes something to Bartleby and he responds with “I would prefer not to.” The narrator asks Bartleby to examine copies with the other men, go to the Post Office in the place of the usual errand boy, answer personal questions about himself, and lastly—upon Bartleby’s announcement that has given up copying—tells him to leave his law firm. Bartleby refuses, but the police eventually arrest Bartleby after frightened other tenants of the building report him to the station—Bartleby has sat at the banister outside of the office, refusing to