It is quite obvious that he believes he is the only person worth bragging about. His description of himself is as follows, "I am a man who, from youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best I am one of those ambitious lawyers who never addresses a jury- (Melville 1087) He admits to not being the hardest worker, but the way he speaks of himself, he seems to truly believe that he does not need to work terribly hard because he knows he has people he can tell to do work for him. He even has the nerve to say he does not speak in "vanity" but everything he says about himself makes him seem both shallow and vain. He does not speak of Bartleby, Turkey, Nippers and Ginger Nut as highly as he speaks of himself. .
Even when the narrator does describe his employees he mentions how their behavior becomes a reflection upon him. It does not seem hard for this man to put himself into every word he says. He is shallow and has all the power in this office and that seems to only push him further and further towards attempting to run everything. The narrator says of Nippers, "He always dressed in a gentlemanly sort of way; and so, incidentally, reflected credit upon my chambers" (Melville 1089). These men work for him and it appears that he wants more than just control over their work and his business.
The defiance of Bartleby seems to bring out a lot of the narrator's issues with having control over these men. As with the definition of the word minority the narrator is the smaller number of the larger group, but he is not the minority, apparently his power over them makes them the minority. The narrator admits that Bartleby's answers of "I would prefer not to" spark a trigger in him and makes him wish to exert this power. It almost appears too easy as the narrator would agree, "in my haste and natural expectancy of instant compliance" (Melville 1092).
