Analysis of Bartleby

Dean DeGroot

ENG. 102       

Laura Cline

February 4, 2012

Literary Analysis of “Bartleby the Scrivner”

The story by Melville about Bartleby is not about Bartleby at all. It is about individual inner turmoil, which we all experience to a degree. How we cope with the intrapersonal turmoil affects our interpersonal relationships. These countless interpersonal relations are what make up society and establishes the social norms that we live by.

The lawyer in the story (“Is it incorrect to refer to him as the lawyer as opposed to the narrator?”) is, by his own admission, lazy. “I am a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best.” (Melville, Par. 3) He was unambitious, avoided turbulence, or anything that would invade his peace. The lawyer also admitted to being angry because, a lucrative, non arduous position within the courts of England had been eliminated by the American constitution. He wanted that easy money to finance his other hobbies to escape his mundane life. Because of his profession he did business with rich people, handling their important documents. These rich people trusted him and considered him a safe man. This could be debated because he was so lackluster about office security that he wasn’t even sure where all his keys were. Within the context of the story these rich men and his employees, who annoyed and irritated him, were his only relationships.  Did He have a wife, children, and friends?  He even went to church alone.

The lawyer’s employee’s disgusted him. Turkey was a common man, along in his years, and became angry and sloppy in the afternoon. This annoyed the lawyer but Turkey’s A.M. productivity as a copier was of use, it made him (the lawyer) money. Nipper was young and unkept. His morning shenanigans irritated the lawyer, but Nippers P.M. productivity was of use. Turkey and Nippers negative characteristics are anti-social behavior, but those characteristics have somehow become acceptable social norms. This is evident when the lawyer stated, about Bartleby, “The passiveness of Bartleby sometimes irritated me. I felt strangely goaded on to encounter him in new opposition, to elicit some angry spark from him answerable to my own.” (Melville, Par. 53)

Bartleby was strange, he didn’t behave within the social norms, and he just wanted to be left alone in the corner of his office, do his job, and make money. Bartleby was an anti-social introvert.

The Lawyer didn’t care about his clients; his lack of office security is evidence of that. He didn’t care about his employees; he kept them around to make him money. He was angry about losing his position as Master of Chancery because it was an easy lucrative position.  There is no reference to the lawyer having any family or friends. The lawyer was an anti-social introvert. He recognized this and saw himself in Bartleby which is why he become obsessed with him. The lawyer even attempted to befriend Bartleby but didn’t know how. He only knows how to be an unambitious lawyer.

Works Cited:

Melville, Herman. Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-street. 1853 http://www.bartleby.com/129/