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BartlebyAnalysis 19 - 03 Apr 2012 - Main.JasonPyke
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| | Bartleby—A Law Student's Analysis
This short piece addresses the reflection narrator sees of himself in Bartleby in Herman Melville's short story, "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street." | | | The introduction of Bartleby to the office, especially when he begins his "I would prefer not to" phase, represents to me the moment that something clicks in the mind of an associate, and he finally realizes that he would really prefer not to do ANY of this work that is constantly being thrust at him. The problem is, however, that he doesn't leave the office; in fact, he lives there secretly. The narrator can't do anything to get rid of him, so he just lets him sit around and gets Nippers and Turkey to pick up his slack. This can be analogized to the associate working on auto-pilot, completing the work that is given without having his heart in it, but with Bartleby still in the back of his mind, not really wanting to do anything. | |
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< | When the narrator ends up switching offices instead of getting rid of Bartleby, this may be compared to the associate switching to another firm, or even another department with the same firm. Instead of attacking the real problem - getting rid of the feeling of not wanting to do this work - the associate merely switches the location of his misery, but Bartleby doesn't go anywhere. He still stays in the same office and doesn't eat or sleep. The problem of unhappiness at work is still present. | >
> | When the narrator ends up switching offices instead of getting rid of Bartleby, this may be compared to the associate switching to another firm, or even another department with the same firm. Instead of attacking the real problem - getting rid of the feeling of not wanting to do this work - the associate merely switches the location of his misery, but Bartleby doesn't go anywhere. He still stays in the same office and doesn't eat or sleep. The problem of unhappiness at work is still present. This is where I think Eben's hint at this being a ghost story comes from. Bartleby is like a dead part of the narrator, and he is haunting the narrator's office, until he is finally put into the Tombs and laid to final rest. | | | I also believe that the "dead letter office" that Bartleby worked in before joining the narrator's office is symbolic of law school. A dead letter office is basically where undeliverable mail goes to die. This can be compared to what happens to many of us when we come to law school, in that the hopes, dreams, aspirations that we come in with are stifled and left unfulfilled. As the narrator hints, this prior occupation was the likely source of Bartleby's disposition. |
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All material marked as authored by Eben Moglen is available under the license terms CC-BY-SA version 4.
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