Bartleby the Scrivener

The story of Bartleby the Scrivener is told from the point of view of the lawyer, who is looking back on his experiences with Barleby. When Bartleby is employed by the lawyer, he slowly begins to act strange compared to the other employees at the office. Even when Bartleby refuses to comply with his requests, the lawyer keeps him around just out of curiosity to find out more about him. When Bartleby simply does not listen and decides to quit, he still stays around the office. The lawyer is not bothered by this, until it starts to affect his business. Bartleby is arrested for continuing to stay in the office even after the lawyer moves his business. After visiting Bartleby in prison and later finding him dead, the lawyer finds out that Bartleby previously worked at the Dead Letter office. Throughout the course of this story, I noticed two themes. The themes that stood out to me were charity and selfishness. These themes were incorporated through the actions and motives of the narrator. He continues to give Bartleby chances and allows him to keep his job even when he continues to say "I would prefer not to" constantly. The lawyer also allows Bartleby to stay in the office even after Bartleby quits his job. However, the narrator is selfish because of his motives. He helps Bartleby to feel better about himself. As soon as Bartleby begins to negatively affect his business, the lawyer can no longer help Bartleby. He sees Bartleby as a burdon rather than a charity case. The narrator's view suddenly changes, and Bartleby is ultimately affected with the consequences.