Bartleby the Scrivener, by Herman Melville the Thesis

Bartleby the Scrivener, By Herman Melville

The protagonist in this story by Herman Melville is the narrator, and Bartleby, a man of his own mind and a strong mind it is, is the antagonist. The narrator shows a disturbing lack of good judgment by coddling Bartleby, and begging Bartleby to cooperate. The narrator in this story represents the lack of human understanding in the business world of Melville's era. The thesis of this paper is that the narrator is playing the role of the stuffed shirt Wall Street kind of man who was typical of this era, and the narrator, while seemingly fair and reasonable, is totally out of touch with how to manage employees and how to deal with diversity and indifference. This would appear to be based on Melville's editorial view of capitalism and Wall Street per se during this era in the U.S.; in short, Melville is not investigating Bartleby, but rather he is exploring the intellect and rationality of the neoclassical man, the Wall Street man.

Analysis of the Story

Meanwhile, readers know from the beginning of the story that the narrator, a person of reason and logic, is going to have difficulty with Bartleby, a man who shows quirky, recalcitrant behavior. The reader is put in a position of backing the narrator, who asks reasonable things of Bartleby, but gets answers like, "I would prefer not to," and hence, following 2 straight days on the job in which Bartleby put out a tremendous amount of work, he rejects the assignment on the third day.

What kind of man is the narrator / protagonist? He is above all fair and patient.And he is flabbergasted by the "perverseness" and "unreasonableness" that Bartleby demonstrates. Yet, he is curious about why this man he hired is so strange and uncooperative. Nothing in the narrator's life has prepared him for this kind of indifference to cooperation. In trying to find out why Bartleby behaves in this bizarre fashion, the narrator is totally confused by Bartleby; what "reasonable objection" could there possibly be on Bartleby's part? The narrator shows his almost amazing patience towards Bartleby; the narrator's moral stance is admirable but the reader can glean that the narrator's kindness is based on his training as a common sense professional.

The narrator tries to dig into Bartleby's life story to flush out any clue (as attorneys are trained to do) that might lead to an understanding of this stubborn, unbending lack of professional cooperation on the job. But finally the narrator uses logic and patience once again:

"Bartleby, never mind, then, about revealing your history; but let me entreat you, as a friend, to comply as far….....