Further, Bartleby rebuffs any of The Lawyer’s attempts to learn about Bartleby by talking with him, revealing nothing to The Lawyer about his beliefs, his family, his relationships, or his personal history.
This irony of the text has led some critics to argue that the story of Bartleby is itself a dead letter that The Lawyer has written to a dead man to tell him what he couldn’t say in life. The Bartleby, the Scrivener quotes below are all either spoken by The Lawyer or refer to The Lawyer.
But he answered not a word; like the last column of some ruined temple, he remained standing mute and solitary in the middle of the otherwise deserted room. Yes, Bartleby, stay there behind your screen, thought I; I shall persecute you no more; you are harmless and noiseless as any of these old chairs…
Yes, Bartleby, stay there behind your screen, thought I; I shall persecute you no more; you are harmless and noiseless as any of these old chairs… At last I see it, I feel it; I penetrate to the predestinated purpose of life…
The Lawyer believes he is doing a good, Christian thing by allowing Bartleby to continue existing in his office. However, Bartleby's presence soon begins to draw the notice of some of the Lawyer's clientele, and he decides that Bartleby is bad for business.
Bartleby began staying in the building even after the lawyer moved his business. The next man that moved his business into the place said that Bartleby was the lawyer's responsibility and he had to do something about him. Bartleby was eventually arrested. The scivener's job was to copy legal documents by hand.
The lawyer tried to get rid of Bartleby by moving offices. This attempt worked because Bartleby just stayed in the office. The lawyer's attempt to get rid of Bartleby only partially worked. It didn't work all the way because the next tenants of the office called the lawyer to get Bartleby to leave.
The lawyer doesn't fire Bartleby after he declines to work, instead he gives Bartleby another chance. The lawyer preference to remain calm shows that he chooses to stray from confrontation. Bartleby continuous refusal to work leads to him being fired, but he refuses to leave.
With the sudden changes of Bartleby, the Lawyer feels overpowered, and it is like he does not have any power over his employees like Bartleby. Marcus explains that Bartleby is a psychological double for the Lawyer. The author says that Bartlebys power over the Lawyer quickly grows as the story progresses (Marcus 1).
A few days later, Bartleby refuses to take part in scanning his own sheaf of quadruplicates. The lawyer, exasperated to the breaking point, asks his other employees their opinion in the matter. Turkey agrees that the lawyer has made a reasonable request; Nippers suggests that they kick Bartleby out of the office.
The lawyer acts quite contrary to what one would expect, especially from a lawyer. He appears to be calm and almost non-irritable by Bartleby's responses.
The Lawyer is the unnamed narrator of "Bartleby the Scrivener." He owns a law firm on Wall Street, and he employs four men as scriveners, or copyists: Turkey, Nippers, Ginger Nut, and Bartleby. The Lawyer is about sixty years old. He is level-headed, industrious, and has a good mind for business.
Bartleby, the Scrivener is set during a time when Wall Street was becoming ever more important as a financial hub of American society, a society that was itself being transformed by the increasing importance of capital and finance in an industrializing world.
In fact, late in the story, after The Lawyer has moved offices and Bartleby has been forcibly removed by its subsequent tenants and put in a prison called The Tombs, the Lawyer goes to visit Bartleby but ends up getting trapped in the central yard area of the prison, with its “surrounding walls of amazing thickness.”.
In fact, the entire time The Lawyer knows Bartleby, from when he hires him until Bartleby’s imprisonment, The Lawyer learns nothing more from Bartleby about his history or personality than his name.
Turkey and Nippers, the two scriveners who work for The Lawyer before he brings on Bartleby, initially seem like comic characters (because they are described in comic ways by The Lawyer/Narrator who employs them).
So, the narrator can see his workers through the glass, but cannot hear them when the doors are closed. When The Lawyer hires Bartleby, he decides to station Bartleby’s desk in his own office, which would hint at the possibility for more connection.
In fact, if you want to push things a bit, you could argue that Bartleby is one of the first office comedies, though Bartleby ’s “comedy” and viewpoint is so dark that it actually ends up as an office tragedy.
By the story’s end, Bartleby therefore becomes an antagonist to The Lawyer ’s goal of getting the most productivity out of his workers.
Bartleby is also a testament to the inherent failure present in language: it is revealed that Bartleby previously worked at the Dead Letter Office, where his task was to destroy lost or undelivered letters.
Yes, Bartleby, stay there behind your screen, thought I; I shall persecute you no more; you are harmless and noiseless as any of these old chairs….
Eventually, Bartleby’s passive resistance becomes more extreme and he refuses to do even the basic requirements of his copying job, The Lawyer tries to fire Bartleby, who prefers not to vacate The Lawyer’s office, even after The Lawyer changes offices and leaves Bartleby behind.