What does it mean to be human? And what does it mean to be a “free” in the human sense of the word? Herman Melville describes both in his story about what it is to be Bartleby and also what it is to work and employ a human who does not act as such. While re-reading this story, I found myself going through a spate of emotions including confusion about Bartleby’s non-compliance and his “preference” to not do things asked of him, amusement about this peculiarity, frustration about his insubordination which eventually turns to anger, but mostly sadness about his choice to not use those talents so freely given to him by G-d. This to me is what being “human” and “free” is