Reader Response to Bartleby the Scrivener Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reader Response to Bartleby the Scrivener - Essay Example It could be argued that the lawyer gets a scrivener after his heart to help him know himself better. In a significant piece of self-analysis, the narrator says, "though I belong to a profession proverbially energetic and nervous, even to turbulence, at times, yet nothing of that sort have I ever suffered to invade my peace." He is "one of those unambitious lawyers who never addresses a jury, or in any way draws down public applause; but in the cool tranquillity of a snug retreat, do a snug business among rich men's bonds and mortgages and title-deeds. All who know me consider me an eminently safe man"(par.3). The position of the subordinates in his office is also preeminently safe. His permanent staff of scriveners consists of a uniquely eccentric trio called Turkey, Nippers and Ginger Nut. Their idiosyncrasies may have led a less phlegmatic employer to dismiss them, but the narrator merely consoles himself with the thought that " I never had to do with their eccentricities at one time. Their fits relieved each other like guards. When Nippers' was on, Turkey's was off; and vice versa. This was a good natural arrangement under the circumstances" (par. 13). As for Ginger Nut, "to this quick-witted youth the whole noble science of the law was contained in a nut-shell" (par. 14), says the narrator with an almost paternal indulgent irony. The point is that this was the state of affairs in the narrator's office before Bartleby joined them to fill a temporary position. What of Bartleby at this time At least, he shows sufficient initiative to apply for the position and seems to have possessed enough enterprise to impress his employer. As the narrator remarks, "I engaged him, glad to have among my corps of copyists a man of so singularly sedate an aspect, which I thought might operate beneficially upon the flighty temper of Turkey, and the fiery one of Nippers" (par.16). And what of his first days at work The narrator describes it thus: As if long famishing for something to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my documents. There was no pause for digestion. He ran a day and night line, copying by sun-light and by candle-light. I should have been quite delighted with his application, had be been cheerfully industrious. But he wrote on silently, palely, mechanically. (par. 18) Although, or perhaps, because, he had done an extraordinary quantity of work, Bartleby politely refuses to have anything to do with the checking of the documents for mistakes-he 'prefers' not to. No explanation is given by Bartleby, or by the narrator. Was it a supreme confidence in the infallibility of his written work No, because he also refuses all other kind of work such as reviewing the writing of others, running simple errands, or anything of the sort. Later, he declares that he has "decided upon doing no more writing"(par. 126) and he finally informs his employer "he had permanently given up copying" (par. 133). What is the cause of this change in Bartleby Is Bartleby perhaps the narrator's alter ego, providentially chosen to reveal to him his own essential inner self When he realizes that Bartleby had nowhere to go after office hours, "a feeling of overpowering stinging melancholy" overwhelms the narrator: "The bond of a common humanity now drew me irresistibly to gloom. A fraternal melancholy! For both I and Bartleby were sons of Adam" (par.89). After