Analysis of Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener”

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Analysis of Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener”
Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener” is an exciting story that revolves around a Wall Street Office. The story is in a first-person tone, a lawyer documenting his duties and work relationship in the law office. The narrator starts by acknowledging having worked with different scriveners but Bartleby is unique and an interesting character. This revelation beckons the question, who is Bartleby? Why does he utter the refrain “I will prefer not to.”? Bartleby is a disturbed person whose problems genesis is not known. He leads a lonely life and rarely interacts with workmates in the office “I observed that he never went to dinner; indeed, that he never went anywhere” (Mays 701). He rarely eats and complains a lot when asked to perform any duty even the simplest of all by constantly responding “I would prefer not to”. Technically, Bartleby can...