My Thoughts On Bartleby

My thoughts on Bartleby

After reading the story I must admit I was hoping to find clarification to all the ideas that came to mind. Who was Bartleby? why Bartleby? Not only did I ask myself these questions, but I also kept repeating the same questions about the narrator, why the narrator and why the narrator. It seems to me as if the main focus was on the enigma of trying to find our more on the connection between them, than in figuring out who this mysterious, undefined, character named Bartleby might have been.

Melville, the author, purposely fails to provide enough information for his readers to figure it out from the beginning, yet in trying to define them I found myself creating a new story of my own and building upon the one originally written. I must admit that my only concern is that by the time I finish this essay I may end up doubting every single line I wrote because I truly believe there can be many unique interpretations to this story and I am tempted to try and unveil as many as I possibly can.

Bartleby was the character that gave meaning and form to the story. Let me explain, when the narrator starts to talk about the other workers in his office he expresses in just a few sentences that both Turkey and Nipper were almost emotionless people who resembled what could graphically be interpreted as one coin with two sides.

On the other hand Bartleby did not fall under any side of the coin, he was a unique and a rare coin in his own way, and although he lacked what may have seemed as personality, in my opinion he was a more defined person who had a high self esteem and confidence in comparison to the rest. Despite the few words he ever expressed by the time "Bartleby" became employed and joined the team, he was already living in a world of his own, more like existing if I must say but his own. A world of depression and alienation, of possibly disappointment from what the world had become, but no matter what, he had found his comfort zone and was just waiting to fulfill what was left of his existence.

So now that I defined who I think Bartleby was, as well as where he stood in comparison to the others workers, I want to answer my other question, why "Bartleby". In many ways, "Bartleby" is a story of corporate discontent. The scriveners are part of the machinery of modern industry and commerce; they are educated men who do tedious work. Bartleby is one of a kind and an outcast. He is a profoundly depressed and lonely, and in applying for this job he was seeking final answers to the questions he already knew.

The world had become a cold place that lacked compassion, where ego and selfishness ranked first and second. Maybe Bartleby had one last spark of hope left in him, and so he decided