Bartleby the Scrivener -the Sympathetic Narrator - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages The narrator is profoundly affected by his encounter with Bartleby and is moved to tell his story. The reader sees the scrivener exclusively from the narrator’s point of view. The lawyer is the interpreter of Bartleby’s actions and motives and the development of the plot rests on his interaction with the Scrivener. He is the first-hand witness who is with Bartleby as the scrivener moves into an increasingly rigid denial of work and finally, of life itself. In this context, the narrator occupies the pre-eminent position in the story, and may even arguably be considered to be its hero. The character and actions of the narrator demonstrate a deep sympathy for Bartleby which persists throughout the story. The narrator’s non-confrontational character makes him sympathetic to Bartleby at the outset of their relationship. By his own admission, a narrator is a man who is “filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best” (Melville, paragraph 3). In line with this philosophy of life, the lawyer avoids the excitement and contentions of the active law courts, choosing instead to make his living “in the cool tranquillity of a snug retreat, do a snug business among rich men's bonds and mortgages and title-deeds” (Melville, 3).  
He is prepared to go to great lengths of accommodation in order to guard this world. His non-confrontational approach is clearly seen in his treatment of his three employees. Turkey works in the morning but becomes drunk after the lunch break. Nippers remains in a ferment of irritability and discontent in the first half of the day, before going on to work diligently in the second half. The young office boy, Ginger-Nut, appears to spend all his time ranging abroad on miscellaneous errands. The narrator admits that “being a man of peace” (Melville, 6), he is willing to overlook his employee’s eccentricities. In fact, his non-confrontational approach is singularly unsuccessful in terminating Turkey’s services. The lawyer remarks, rather tamely, “At all events, I saw that go he would not. So I made up my mind to let him stay” (Melville, 10). It is this aspect of the narrator’s personality which underlies “the lawyer's exceptional kindnesses to Bartleby and also his amazing tolerance of the other scriveners” (Dilworth, 51). When he meets Bartleby for the first time, the narrator admits that “there was something about Bartleby that not only strangely disarmed me, but in a wonderful manner touched and disconcerted me” (Melville, 36). It may be argued that Bartleby’s calm demeanor strikes a sympathetic chord in the placid narrator, who himself is a bit of a recluse. ...Download file to see next pagesRead More