Herman Melville's Bartleby, The Scrivener

Prolific author Herman Melville, in 1853, published Bartleby, the Scrivener; a short story told through the perspective of an unnamed Manhattan Lawyer, who employs an apathetic scrivener who is characterized by his “[looniness]” (9). Albeit initially it seems as though Bartleby will be conducive to success, with his “pallidly neat” outfit and his appeared propensity to complete “lengthy documents” (7), it is quick to conclude that from his first day at work, the eponymous Bartleby has been “dead” long before his arrival. It is clear to the readers that Bartleby’s experiences with society have undoubtedly shaped the way he goes about his life—made clear throughout the plot by the various elements and themes used and highlighted by Melville in
When Melville published his short story in 1853, the city of New York was booming in business and commerce, so it is largely inductively probable that Melville wrote his story with the idea of making a statement about this young metropolis. This claim is furthered as the story was originally written with the subtitle of “A Story of Wall Street” (The Melville Log). The importance and the implications of Wall Street being the setting for this story, is that at that time in American history, the country was hitting a new industrial “boom”, migrating many people from rural areas to cities. Many Americans were trying make their share in the new wealth by being a part of this fast paced lifestyle. But while this was happening, many had not realized that their own humanity and identity was being stripped from them. For example, in Bartleby, the Scrivener, the Manhattan Lawyer and his four scriveners spend nearly every day, from morning until evening, doing work together, yet they hardly know anything about one another. An example of this is when the narrator asks Bartleby, who symbolizes humanity, questions about himself: “’Will you tell me, Bartleby, where you were born?’ ’I would prefer not to.’ ‘Will you tell me anything about yourself?’ ‘I would prefer not to.’” (15). These disparities in interactions are especially seen when this work by Melville is compared to other ones by him, like Moby Dick, where the protagonist, Ishmael, voyages throughout the seas with a crew of whale hunters, and learns about the personal lives of almost all of his fellow crew members. This office setting is starkly different, as the narrator knows almost nothing about his employees’ personal lives; and is exactly what Melville was trying to say about work in New York offices at