How Is Bartleby Selfish

A singular label for the previous and present generation is selfish. Homo sapiens have forgotten how to care for others and now follow a path of selflessness. Bartleby the Scrivener, A Tale of Wall Street written by Herman Melville, takes readers on a journey back in time. Throughout this journey, the author describes his brief encounter with the main character {Bartleby}. As the story progresses, the author describes the actions of Bartleby and the selfless ones by committed upon him by the people around him. The author uses setting, characterization, and imagery to convey that mankind has lost its humanity.

To fully understand the turn of events, the reader must understand the setting. the author describes the setting in the beginning of

Throughout the story Bartleby character changes dramatically. In the beginning Bartleby is full of life, the author describes him as “respectable”(Melville 6), and is glad to have him in the office. As the story progresses Bartlebys character changes dramatically over time. Being in a confined area, without any friendly human interaction caused bartleby to enter a rebellious stage. He did his work “silently, palely”(Melville 7) and “mechanically” ( Melville 8). This should have been the first sign to the author that something was wrong with him. Therefor ignoring him shows the loss of humanity, because he did not try to help him when he first started seeing flaws in this character. When Melville first asks Bartleby to examine documents, he replies with “I would prefer not to”(Melville 9). The author noted the verbal refusal coming from bartleby as strange, yet decided to forget the matter. The rebellious character did not eat, and eventually “for long periods”(Melville 10) “would stand looking out, at his pale window”(Melville 11). Bartleby had given up working, because the author was oblivious to his efforts, which lead bartleby to give up on life. Although he showed many signs, no one in the story attempted to show the slightest sign of

One morning the author returned to his office on main street to find the door locked. When bartleby eventually opened the door the author described him and his clothes “strangely tattered”(Melville 12) and “dish ample” ( Melville 13). After further inspecting the office the author discovered “a blanket”(Melville 14) rolled away under his desk, and an old sofa head the “faint impress of a lean reclining form”(Melville 15). the use of imagery concluded that bartleby was indeed living in the office, yet he still didn’t receive any help. Instead of lending a hand, the author decided to just move offices and leave bartleby all alone, knowing he needs help. the vivid imagery given to readers by the author proves that there is a dramatic loss of humanity, because even though he visibly saw that bartleby was struggling he still didn’t care about bartleby sickness, and moved for business