Bartleby - the Scrivener

Compassion, charity, and responsibility were the main feelings that the narrator in “Bartleby, the Scrivener”. (Bartleby.com) Mostly everyone that would find themselves in that situation would feel the same. In the beginning, the narrator was puzzled by Bartleby’s eccentric behavior. He was strangely fascinated by him. All of the other co-workers were annoyed since they had to do his work without pay. Any normal boss would immediately fire someone like Bartleby, but the narrator felt a certain sense of charity towards him. (Spark Notes)

“Poor fellow! Thought I, he means no mischief; it is plain he intends no insolence; his aspect sufficiently evinces that his eccentricities are involuntary.” (Bartleby.com) The narrator is thinking about how he feels sorry for Bartleby. He is almost like a harmless creature that has no place in the world. Bartleby obviously has something wrong with him. At first when the narrator hires him to work at the office, he thinks nothing of his quiet nature. He actually feels that he would be a positive addition. Both of the other scrivener’s are highly dysfunctional. One has an alcohol problem, and the other has severe indigestion. Not long after Bartleby starts work, the narrator asks him to do a simple task, and he replies, “I would prefer not to.”(Spark Notes)

Douglas