Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener: character and themes

Melville, "Bartleby the Scrivener"

The relationship of Bartleby and the narrator in Herman Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener"

Melville's short story, "Bartleby the Scrivener," has provided his readers and critics with enough material to speculate upon Bartleby's condition and the message the writer intends to send through his peculiar character. Some considered the information on the scrivener rather inconclusive and shifted their attention to the other major character in the short story, the unnamed narrator. Besides considering the personality and actions of the lawyer narrator, some others have concentrated their attention on the relationship between the two and the significance of their interaction or lack thereof. For the contemporary reader, Bartleby's existence could have a double meaning: an alter ego for the alienated person who is living under circumstances completely different from what nature intended one to be and a choice of passive response to society's compulsiveness to adjust and submit to its strict, simple but deceptive rules.

The narrator introduces himself and sets the tone for his story in terms that present the reader with a setting that encompasses a claustrophobic world: his office: "ere introducing the scrivener, as he first appeared to me, it is fit I make some mention of myself, my employees, my business, my chambers, and general surroundings" (Melville, 2330). The repetition of the possessive pronoun announces that the narrator presents a world that he thinks is entirely under his control. Furthermore, he presents himself as a person who has found a way to go thorough life avoiding complications, perfectly adjusting to the rules and laws of society and always choosing the easiest way out of any potential problem. He further describes his lack of ambition as rather a virtue that helped him keep safe and sound through the years and reach an age of wisdom, speared of any turbulence.

The double meaning of the relationship between the lawyer narrator and Bartleby must be taken into consideration considering the environment the former describes he lived in for most of his adult life. His employees, the only people he introduces as his entourage, appear to be suffering form the alienating effects of their living style. The head of the office seems to be perfectly aware of their flaws and wise enough in order to make the best use of their hindered capacities. On the other hand, he lives and works under the same circumstances is therefore, subjected to similar alienation effects. Sanford Pinsker advances the theory that in order to understand the symbolism of Melville's short tale, one must focus on the details regarding the lawyer narrator instead of trying to solve the enigma posed by the scrivener himself. Pinsker is further considering the metaphor of the walls in this short story and their importance in defining human relationships or the lack thereof. The description of the chambers occupied by the law firm on Wall Street indicates the power walls effect on those who are surrounded by them. No one is spared by the look of walls, not even the head of the office: "owing to the great height of the surrounding buildings, and my chambers being on the second floor, the interval between this wall and mine not a little resembled a huge square cistern" (2331). The atmosphere of the hole story is complete already with this passage since an utter impression of claustrophobia is set in place. Considering Melville's biography and his travels and adventures during his first adult years, one could find a high degree of contrast between the wide and "uncivilized" spaces he cruised through and the setting he creates for "Bartleby the Scrivener." The people living in those chambers seem already dead, ghosts wondering in a huge tomb among others. Questions like: "what is the purpose of their existence?," "What is the meaning of life?," "do these characters have any other life outside these walls?" arise when analyzing the circumstances Bartleby came to the law office at No._ on Wall Street. Melville and his extended family experienced different kinds of living environments, form Manhattan to the farm near Pittsfield, where he moved in the 1850s. He was experiencing financial difficulties at the time and the responses to his published work were various and often contradictory. He appeared divided between the urge to write according to his beliefs and inspiration and the need to comply to what the public demanded and produced financial benefits. "Bartleby the Scrivener" shows signs that the author turned inside and wrote a piece for his own sake. His explorations into the limitations imposed by an artificial and apparently absurd and purposeless life goo deeper into the depth of the human mind and psyche.

The main instrument in the hands of writer, the word, becomes the powerful tool used by both Bartleby and the lawyer narrator in the latter's attempt to interact with the scrivener the only way he knew so far. His efforts will be in vane, since Bartleby will end up dying in the Tombs, but he will be left with a shattered image of what he imagined life's meaning was until the scrivener came into his chambers. Norman Springer considers the effect the gradual development of the story has on the reader as the result of the gradual discovery the lawyer narrator makes himself during the time he gets to watch Bartleby. His confidence in his capacities and knowledge of the human nature and the human laws, built upon decades of experience is suddenly shattered by the very presence of a Bartleby who starting with his third day in the office answers with: "I would prefer not to" (2336). The head of the law office is intrigued and compelled not to immediately dismiss the new employee on account of his subordination. Like Sanford, Norman Springer considers the key to understanding the meanings of this literary piece, the focus of the analysis being placed on the narrator and his relationship to Bartleby instead of just focusing on Bartleby alone.

The undisputed authority of the head of the law office becomes redundant once Bartleby answers with his perpetual: "I would prefer not to." Graham Thompson argues that the fact that the lawyer decided to tell the story was the result of his determination to compensate for his failure to make Bartleby an integral part of his life during the time they were acquainted. He speculates on a relationship between the two that stands for a romantic involvement.