Bartleby the Scrivener -the Sympathetic Narrator - Essay Example

“Bartleby the Scrivener:” The Sympathetic Narrator. Herman Melville’s short story, “Bartleby the Scrivener: a Story of Wall Street,” relates the strange tale of Bartleby, a professional copyist, who withdraws from the world and finally chooses to die. It is set in late nineteenth century Manhattan and is one of Melville’s best-known works. Bartleby takes on the job of a scrivener, progressively isolates himself from social interaction, stops work and denies discourse with the everyday world. The story is narrated by an unnamed lawyer, with an office on Wall Street, who hires Bartleby in the last period of the scrivener’s life. 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, the 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). It is clear that the narrator is rather introverted and is happier with his documents than in the company of men. He reiterates his placid nature by asserting that he rarely loses his temper and indicates his appreciation of financial security. The narrator painstakingly “goes to some length to tell the reader that his is a world of prudence and method grounded in creature comforts” (Todd, 187). 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. The scrivener’s initial industriousness also earns his approval. The narrator accepts the continuing manifestations of Bartleby’s malady sympathetically, as it is off-set by his diligent work ethics. Just as in the case of Turkey and Nippers, the lawyer condones Bartleby’s eccentricities and consoles himself by emphasizing the work completed by the scrivener, who “did an extraordinary quantity of writing” (Melville, 18). In fact, Bartleby’s industry, temperance and calm demeanor impress the lawyer, in contrast to the irascibility and temperamental behavior of the other clerks. Bartleby’s refusal to obey any orders requiring social intercourse is a source of great irritation to his employer. However, the lawyer suppresses his annoyance and remains sympathetic, citing Bartleby’s good qualities, including his sterling honesty, as a justification for his tolerance of the scrivener: “steadiness, his freedom from all dissipation, his incessant industry (except when he chose to throw himself into a standing revery behind his screen), his great stillness, his unalterableness of demeanor under all circumstances, made him a valuable acquisition” (Melville, 85). As Bartleby’s intransigence becomes more pronounced, the narrator retains his sympathy for the scrivener by drawing on his reserves of Christian charity. The narrator continues his sympathetic treatment of Bartleby as a conscious act of charity. As he perceives the poverty and mildness of the reclusive scrivener, the narrator “pities Bartleby as an involuntary eccentric and consoles himself with the thought that his generosity will be rewarded” spiritually in the after-life (Stempel and Stillians, 275). In self-conscious magnanimity, the narrator reminds himself of the scrivener’s harmlessness and utility and tells himself that “To befriend Bartleby; to humor him in his strange willfulness, will cost me little or nothing, while I lay up in my soul what will eventually prove a sweet morsel for my conscience” (Melville, 54). The narrator complacently imagines that he is the savior who ensures that Bartleby avoids ill-treatment and even starvation under a new employer. The narrator congratulates himself on his charitable response to the scrivener, even in the face of the latter’s obdurate refusal to accede to the reasonable demands of his position. This assumed charity changes into true compassion as the story progresses. As the pathetic circumstances of Bartleby’s solitary existence are revealed, the narrator’s persistent sympathy towards the scrivener takes on the aspects of genuine compassion. The narrator realizes that Bartleby lives in his Wall Street office. As he looks through the pitiful personal effects of his employee, he is deeply moved by this evidence of the scrivener’s penury and total isolation and confesses, “For the first time in my life a feeling of overpowering stinging melancholy seized me. Before, I had never experienced aught but a not-unpleasing sadness. The bond of a common humanity now drew me irresistibly to gloom” (Melville, 89). The lawyer’s sympathy for Bartleby takes on a new perspective: “what the lawyer discovers in his office will mark his passage from self-satisfaction ---to a new compassion” (Stempel and Stillians, 276). As the narrator goes through this stage of intense pity and compassion, he experiences yet another change in his sensibilities. He frankly confesses that “a prudential feeling began to steal over me. My first emotions had been those of pure melancholy and sincerest pity; but just in proportion as the forlornness of Bartleby grew and grew to my imagination, did that same melancholy merge into fear, that pity into repulsion” (Melville, 93). The narrator accepts Bartleby as a test sent to him by Providence and attempts to tolerate the pitiful scrivener. As the narrator perceives his helplessness in the face of Bartleby’s spiritual needs, he concludes that “He cannot reach Bartleby's soul; there is no earthly food, no earthly coin, that can heal Bartleby” (Todd, 189). This helplessness leads him to reconsider his attitude towards the scrivener. Even though the narrator fears that Bartleby may ruin his secure world, he continues to treat the scrivener with sympathy. As Bartleby grows more recalcitrant, the narrator begins to think that he is dealing with a “demented man, who already has in some degree turned the tongues, if not the heads of myself and clerks” (Melville, 124). He is completely perplexed and can find no honorable way out of his predicament. He fears that Bartleby will “keep occupying my chambers, and denying my authority; and perplexing my visitors; and scandalizing my professional reputation” (Melville, 165) and give him unwanted, bad publicity. As he envisions the disintegrations of his professional reputation, the narrator is left with no choice and decides that he has to distance himself from Bartleby. However, in line with his persistent sympathy for the unfortunate man, he is assailed by pangs of guilt and laments, “something from within me upbraided me” (Melville, 171). Even as he abandons the scrivener, in order to protect his own livelihood, the narrator displays his sympathy. He offers Bartleby monetary aid, gives him various job options and even invites him to share his home until he decides on his next course of action. It can be categorically accepted that the narrator is good to “one of the most infuriating characters in ... fiction,” and shows “uncommon kindness and indulgence towards his impossible employee” (Dilworth, 51). When Bartleby is finally incarcerated as a vagrant, the narrator visits him and pays a man to supply him with good food and other comforts. The narrator’s sympathy towards Bartleby is a thread which runs throughout the story of “Bartleby the Scrivener.” The lawyer emerges as deeply humane person who does everything he possibly can for Bartleby. The narrator emphasizes the scrivener’s positive traits, finds excuses for his eccentricities and attempts to accept his stubbornness with Christian charity. Even when practical necessity forces the narrator to move away from the scrivener, he retains his compassion and sympathy for him and does everything in his power to ease his way. Although the narrator is unable to resolve the enigma of Bartleby’s withdrawal from the world, he is able to view the scrivener through the lens of compassion. His deep, abiding sympathy suggests that the narrator is motivated by an awareness of the common bond of brotherhood which links all humanity. The narrator is transformed by his encounter with Bartleby the Scrivener. Works Cited. Davis, Todd F. “The Narrator's Dilemma In “Bartleby The Scrivener”: The Excellently Illustrated Re-Statement Of A Problem.” Studies In Short Fiction 34.2 (1997): 183. Academic Search Complete. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. Dilworth, Thomas. “Narrator Of ‘Bartleb’': The Christian-Humanist Acquaintance Of John Jacob Astor.” Papers On Language & Literature 38.1 (2002): 49. Academic Search Complete. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. Melville, Herman. “Bartleby the Scrivener: a Tale of Wall Street.” Title of Collection. Ed. Editor's Name(s). City of Publication: Publisher, Year. Page range of entry. Medium of Publication. Stempel, Daniel and Stillians, Bruce M. “Bartleby the Scrivener: A Parable of Pessimism.” Nineteenth-Century Fiction , Vol. 27, No. 3 (Dec., 1972), pp. 268-282. Read More