Bartleby, The Scrivener is an interesting story representing corporate discontent. Bartleby is a freak, an outcast and a profoundly depressed and lonely man, who seems completely unable to find work that will satisfy him. Life itself is weary to him and he seems like he cannot find a place in the world for himself. His prior job at the Dead Letter Office at Washington that is mentioned at the end of the story gives some insight as to why Bartleby has such a weird behavior and acted the way he did. He is a poor scrivener for a Wall Street lawyer, and his function in his workplace is the focus of this story. Melville uses many different ways to explain the process of the elimination of humanity from the workplace. The most important of these are his use of the scenery, his description of the type of labor performed, and the personalities of his characters. Throughout the story, ho
The description of the office is very depressing, and the landscape of Wall Street is completely unnatural. The work environment is spotless and miserable. Yet most adapt to it, with irregular levels of accomplishment. Melville often describes the world by telling descriptions of the environment.
The end of the story brings out the narrator's compassion for Bartleby, because he tries to help the "dead" and boring scrivener until he dies in a courtyard. The author could have related to Bartleby through previous experiences or beliefs and is probably trying to convey the message because of this. Through the effective use of imagery and great manipulation of the language Melville relays the thought that a person's choice of profession can be damaging to his/her overall fulfillment. Melville continues from there to draw a magnificent picture of how unsatisfying the profession of
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