Bartleby the Scrivener, A Tale of Wall Street

"Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-street" is a darkly comic short story that satirizes the nature of work and its role in ascribing meaning to our lives. The comedy in the story also raises...

The subtitle, “A Story of Wall Street,” appears to refer to the famous street in Manhattan, and would seem to support a particular reading of the story, in which Bartleby can be seen as an...

Bartleby is neither lazy nor crazy. We are led to believe (though the lawyer stresses that he doesn't know with certainty) that Bartleby suffers from despair. He starts off in his job as a hard...

The lawyer who narrates the story is initially glad to have Bartleby as an employee because he does good work and does it for long hours, but the lawyer wishes Bartleby had a less gloomy demeanor....

Turkey, Nipper, and Ginger Nut are introduced first to prepare us for why the lawyer is initially so delighted with Bartleby. We learn from the first three employees that it is apparently hard to...

As a "safe" and "prudent" man, the narrator positions himself to be a both a casual and unbiased observer of Bartleby. Indeed, in the first few paragraphs, his tone and diction indicate that he is...

Yours is an intriguing question. However, I don't see how anyone can hope to make an accurate diagnosis of a fictional character. Bartleby is just a creation of Herman Melville. If Bartleby seems...

Turkey, Nippers, and Ginger Nut are introduced before Bartleby to show how tolerant the narrator generally is of eccentric and somewhat unproductive employees. For example, Nippers is irritable in...

“Slippage” refers to the idea that meaning is not neatly contained by words but is always in a state of flux, subject to the arbitrary relationship between (for example) the word “tree” and what we...

This answer is perfectly legitimate, but ignores the deeper significance of Bartleby’s “I prefer not to.” Melville is trying to dramatize the difference between goal-driven action and personal...

Near the end of Bartleby, the Scrivener, Bartleby dies in the Tombs prison, where has been sent because of his homelessness. Bartleby dies of starvation in prison because he prefers not to eat...

To start a good thesis, I'd suggest honing in on which parts of the story really speak to you. What message do you think the author is trying to deliver, and how can you present that as an...

At the beginning of the story, the lawyer describes himself as an older man and a person who has sought an easy path through life, although also one that makes him a good deal of money. He uses as...

One of the themes of this story revolves around urban society in that late 19th century. It was important then, as it often is now, to conform to a certain role in order to be recognized. Once...

Melville chooses the lawyer who hired Bartleby to narrate Bartleby's story. The lawyer writes in the first person. I believe Melville made this decision because he wanted to convey an outsider's...

Wall Street is of course the heart of New York's financial district, the epicenter of the global capitalist economy. Even in Herman Melville's day it was a thriving hub of commerce. In the midst of...

In many ways, Melville’s story "Bartleby the Scrivener" can be read as an allegory for the human condition. Man is fated to die, as are other animals. However, unlike other animals, man is aware of...

It can be argued that Turkey, Nippers, and Ginger Nut are introduced to readers before Bartleby for two key reasons. First, the author wants to demonstrate why the narrator is initially drawn to...

The lawyer narrator describes himself as a pillar of salt long before he refers to Bartleby either as a "fixture" or as a "column" in a "ruined temple." The pillar of salt comment comes as Bartleby...

Early in the story the tone is "normal" and reflects the work setting. The scene is set in a typical office with typical workers, albeit each with idiosyncrasies. In short, it is a normal office...

We never find out definitively why Bartleby shuts down and decides he "prefers not to" do any work whatsoever. However, the sympathetic and kind-hearted lawyer employer who takes an interest in him...

In Chapter 21 ("XXI,") as the men make their way to the cell known as "One Hundred and Five, North Tower," the mood is tense and spooky. They enter the room, and here's the narrator's direct...

These individuals, who range in age from 12 to almost 60, are Bartleby's coworkers. The lawyer who hires Bartleby at first hopes this new employee, because of his "singularly sedate" personality,...

It's Bartelby's story. He is the main character, and what happens in the story is all about him and what he does or doesn't do. This most singular of characters is unusual in that he's both the...

One could certainly argue that the titular character in Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener: A Tale of Wall Street” is representative of the alienation of modern life. Bartleby works himself...

The first paragraph of the story has a lot of information in it, but most of the information has to do with things we infer about the narrator from the way he writes, rather than what he actually...

Yes, it is interesting to note the way in which the enigmatic character of Bartleby is presented as always being hemmed in in some way. Consider how the office of the narrator only overlooks walls...

The narrator is a kind-hearted man, but he cannot get Bartleby to budge from his offices or do any work. He first tries to coax him to leave. He also tries to bribe him with money, but Bartleby...

Because "Bartleby the Scrivener" is told by a first-person narrator with a strong sympathy for Bartleby, we can't accept all the judgments in the story as reliable. The narrator himself, Bartleby's...

It may well be that the narrator of this tale, a rather successful Wall Street business man, had hired Bartleby at the very end of Bartleby's ability to cope. Indeed, Bartleby did, at first, work...

The lawyer, who feels sympathy and compassion towards Bartleby, nevertheless wants him to leave the office for good after Bartleby repeatedly states that he "prefers not" to do work anymore....

To address the first question, the narrator believes that Turkey and Nippers provide a good natural arrangement for him because of how their daily routines complement each other. Though both clerks...

Bartleby has a strange effect on the narrator, a lawyer who employs Bartleby as his scrivener (a person who copies documents). The lawyer increasingly falls under Bartleby's spell as he comes to...

Herman Melville was writing for the educated elite literary audience of his day. These were the individuals who had a sound background in classics and a compelling interest in political affairs of...

The story's narrator puts up with his negative opinions about Bartleby for some time. Finally, however, when the fired Bartleby refuses to leave and remains a statue-like fixture in the office, the...

It is interesting to note that the narrator remains unnamed, even though the other characters have either names or nicknames. This makes the narrator a bit of an everyman, and allows the readers...

Bartleby is, quite simply, looking for a job when he goes to Wall Street. What Bartleby sees that the lawyer does not is a meaningless to life. While working in the dead letter office, Bartleby...

Bartleby’s response does upset his lawyer employer, although his fellow employees, Nipper, Turkey, and Gingernut, are hardly without their eccentricities as well. It always struck me as odd that...

From the start of Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener, A Tale of Wall Street," the scrivener is presented as a man of extreme "motionless;" he is pallid (or pale), pitiable and forlorn. Pallid is...

In the first few paragraphs of "Bartleby the Scrivener, A Tale of Wall Street," Melville paints a picture of the lawyer as an elderly, orderly, calm, successful though not professionally energetic,...

In "Bartleby the Scrivener, A Tale of Wall street," by Herman Melville, there are several passages in which the narrator would seem the main character with his internal struggle of how to best deal...

To understand the term slippage, one will have to understand the terms signified and signifier. The signified can be defined as the meaning or general idea of a given sign. The signifier can be...

The lawyer who narrates the story has long been puzzled over Bartleby's behavior. Why did his scrivener, whose job it was to spend his days copying out and then checking the accuracy of legal...

The lawyer who hires Bartleby as a clerk is at first pleased with his diligence and good work habits. He later becomes becomes frustrated and perplexed as Bartleby begins picking and choosing what...

The words "Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!" equate Bartleby's situation with humanity's: we all are subjected to the kind of grief, loss, and isolation Bartley experiences because our attempts to...

I am not convinced by this approach. Non-violence as in the way it was utilised by Ghandi and Civil Rights protestors was a conscious assertion of power and might to protest. Bartleby just can't be...