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...
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