I think that
Melville said to himself: “what would happen if I write about somebody who’d
simply do whatever he pleases?”
That, I
imagine, could have been the spark that caused Bartleby, the scrivener, to come to life.
Let’s see,
what is this large tale about?
The narrator
is a lawyer who owns a small office in a building in Wall Street, New York.
It’s mid XIX century, the year eighteen fifty something, I guess. One never
thinks about this kind of stuff but while reading the book I wondered: how did
office people copy, in large amounts, their important documents? It is clear
that by the time copying machines were not even a dream. So there were people
in charge of that duty. The copied all the necessary documents by hand, letter
by letter.
Therefor, the
narrator, owner of this small lawyer’s office, has three copyists or
scriveners, which is the term used to refer to XIX century copying machines. I
remember that those scriveners were nicknamed as Turkey, Nippers and Ginger
Nut. Every one of these guys had their own eccentricities one wearer as the
previous one, but all of them were efficient at work.
Since the
amount of work in the office was growing rapidly, the lawyer decided to hire
one more scrivener. That’s how Bartleby got into scene. He was a tall, thin and
silent guy. He was assigned a spot in the offices kind of isolated from the
rest but close to his boss’ office. By the way, the name of the lawyer is never
revealed in the story.
Bartleby
started doing his work without any trouble. At the same time, his boss was
realizing of some peculiarities in Bartleby’s behavior. For instance, he
wouldn’t leave the office, he wouldn’t take lunch. It seemed that he would feed
himself by eating only ginger nuts, who were brought from the store by the
errand boy, Ginger Nuts.
What was
exactly the work Bartleby had to do?
To copy all
legal documents his boss commanded him to, and, in order to check the accuracy
of the copied document, it would have to be read out loud in front of the rest
of the coworkers, each one of them holding a copy and the original document.
What did
Bartleby do?
He refused to
do the readings. He just wanted to copy. He wouldn’t do any revision. And
before any of his boss´ request or plea he would answer this: «I would prefer
not to».
The boss,
instead of fire Bartleby violently, prefers to use some Psychology. He talks to
him patiently, trying to find out why he doesn’t perform the tasks his
companions do. But Bartleby, imperturbable or fearless, would always respond:
«I would prefer not to».
But one fine
day, Bartleby “preferred” not to do anything at all but to look out of his
window to the brick-face wall across. Bartleby wouldn’t copy anything, wouldn’t
move, wouldn’t get out of the office, and wouldn’t do anything at all.
The boss,
always subdued by Bartleby’s magnetism and powerless before his employee’s
tranquil stubbornness, decides to flee and, taking the rest of his employees,
moves to another building, far away from Bartleby, who still stayed at the old
building. Though this old building had a new owner, Bartleby remained there and
wouldn’t show any sign of leaving soon. The new owner doesn’t know what to do
with that peculiar character. He finds the former owner of the office and,
knowing that Bartleby was once his employee, compels him to do something about
it or Bartleby would end up in prison.
Bartleby is
sent to prison. The narrator goes and visits him. He talks to him, trying to
make him reconsider his previous actions. But Bartleby is a tough nut. Nothing
moves him. He dies a few days later, of starvation. He had refused to eat
anything.
Some time
afterwards, the lawyer discovers that Bartleby had worked for the Dead Letter
Office at Washington, a place where all letters that no longer had someone to
expect for them are thrown into fire. Could that gloomy and horrific job showed
Bartleby that human existence is always stalked by ineluctable despair? Great
Herman Melville doesn’t say a word. It’ll be on us to conclude whatever we feel
is conveyed through this great story.
