Should I review this? I'd prefer not to.
Have I figured out the meaning of Herman Melville's Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street? No. But then again, few people have. And that makes it perfect for a literature class, reading group, or discussion, because there are so many things to discuss about it.
On the level of story, this novella is easy enough to read and understand, despite being a bit wordy at times. Melville also takes his time to paint the scene in the opening, by going into detail about the minor characters that populate his story. Turkey, Nippers, and Ginger Nut are the nicknames of three underlings who work in the office of the narrator, an elderly lawyer. But the interesting part comes when we meet Bartleby, a new recruit whose job as a scrivener is to copy and check documents by hand. At first Bartleby works very well, but after a while he politely declines his boss's requests to do specific jobs with the phrase "I would prefer not to."
The number of jobs that Bartleby refuses to do increases, always with that calm and inexplicable refusal: "I would prefer not to". Eventually he does nothing at all, just staring out of the office window at a brick wall, and even using the office at night as his sleeping quarters. The narrator is completely puzzled and perplexed, and so are we as readers at this absurd and irrational behaviour. Bartleby's boss tries everything to get him to cooperate, but even his repeated attempts to dismiss Bartleby fail, as do his efforts to make him leave. Eventually our narrator resorts to moving his business out of the building, leaving Bartleby behind. The new landlord eventually calls the police, and there's a tragic ending after Bartleby gets jailed for vagrancy.
The reason for Bartleby's behavior is never explained, but is left open to interpretation, and that's what makes this story so interesting. Equally puzzling is the narrator's reaction to Bartleby, and how he sympathizes with him and even caters to an attitude that would normally be completely unacceptable in the workplace. It's not just Bartleby that strikes us as absurd, but also the narrator for being an "enabler".
Regardless of one's feelings for or against Bartleby, he makes for an interesting and memorable character. His character has become larger than the story that tells it, and he's become a metaphor for something that refuses to work. I especially love the tale I came across about an office printer that frequently didn't cooperate, and was given a sign that read "Bartleby the Printer".
But more importantly, Bartleby's story touches on interesting ethical themes about work and duty, compassion and coercion, fate and free will. A common interpretation is to see Bartleby's character as somewhat autobiographical, as an expression of Melville's own pessimism and frustrations as a writer after bad reviews of his previous novel, which made him feel cheated by the literary world and economic system in which he lived.
Others see in Bartleby the classic symptoms of depression, where he loses motivation for everything to the point where he doesn't even eat, and present him as a sympathetic figure who needs compassion. But should be feel sympathetic to Bartleby or critical of him? Some readers critique Bartleby as an extreme example of sloth and selfishness, because he disrupts an entire business by refusing to work and refusing to do what his boss tells him.
With this view, the narrator is seen as partially to blame, because he's crippled by an upper-class guilt and is too weak-willed in dealing with Bartleby with the force he needs. He seems paralyzed by the fact that he knows how to run a business but falls apart when confronted with the inexplicable Bartleby. As one person put it: "Bartleby is a self-centred a\*hole who doesn't care if he upsets other people, and the narrator has all the worst traits of a megalomaniacal capitalist with a bleeding heart. It's a story about an insufferable child from the perspective of a self-important rich enabler with a broken messiah complex*."
Other interpretations see the story in light of themes relating to capitalism and business, and suggest that the story has an anti-business theme and is a critique on capitalism and markets. By simply not participating as a producer in the economic system he's part of, Bartleby causes a meltdown. Closely linked to this is a philosophical interpretation that sees Bartleby as a hero of radical free will, who refuses to do anything that he doesn't want to.
Because Bartleby's motives are never made explicit, and because we only learn about him through the eyes of an unreliable narrator, it's hard to be definitive about which interpretation is correct, because a lot of questions are left unanswered. What triggered Bartleby to suddenly stop doing everything, and what is his motivation? What is the flavour of "I would prefer not to", and to what extent does this include disrespect and disobedience? Is Bartleby a hero or a villain, and should we be sympathetic to him or critical? How far should compassion be extended to someone who is struggling, and when does carelessness, laziness, or insubordination become intolerable? And how do we deal with obligations and expectations in our own life, when we prefer not to? How would we act if we were the boss in this situation, or one of Bartleby's co-workers?
The author doesn't give us the keys to unlock the answers to these questions, but he does force us to think about them, and to reflect on our own experience of existence. Bartleby may not have provided measurable value to his employer, but a read of his story certainly can give value to us by making us think about our lives.
by EndersGame_Reviewer