For a lawyer, someone who reasons and uses logic in his profession, the lawyer is "disarmed" as he says above. In the end, the narrator escapes Bartleby instead of firing him altogether. By the end of the story, the narrator admits that he cannot shake his connection with Bartleby.
The Lawyer gives Bartleby all the money the scrivener is owed, plus the 20-dollar bonus. He tells Bartleby that he wishes him well, and that if he can be of service to the scrivener, Bartleby shouldn’t hesitate to contact The Lawyer.
The Lawyer’s initial triumphant feelings are an example of how disconnected he is from Bartleby. This is undercut by The Lawyer’s realization that his assumption of authority and Bartleby’s “preferences” may not line up. Ironically, as The Lawyer distances himself from his office, his thoughts about the office’s dynamics become clearer.
Bartleby dies. In a final act of protest, Bartleby refuses to eat, and subsequently starves to death in prison. By just preferring not to live any longer, Bartleby announces his individuality in an ultimately fatal, dramatic fashion: if he cannot live as he "prefers" to, he apparently doesn't want to live at all.
The change in the Lawyer is caused by the sudden change in Bartleby. Before there everything was perfect, and the author presents us with a law office where employees are very dedicated to their work. Until Bartleby decides to change and everything turn upside down.
Though the Lawyer admits that "nothing so aggravates an earnest person as a passive resistance," he eventually comes to pity Bartleby, believing that he "intends no mischief" and his "eccentricities are involuntary." The Lawyer decides to "cheaply purchase a delicious self-approval" by determining to keep Bartleby on ...
Herman Melville's 'Bartleby, the Scrivener' is a short story that takes place in a Wall Street law office. The story's first-person narrator is the lawyer who runs the law office.
The Lawyer He is level-headed, industrious, and has a good mind for business. He is good at dealing with people, at least until he meets Bartleby.
The narrator can't do anything to get rid of him, so he just lets him sit around and gets Nippers and Turkey to pick up his slack.
The Lawyer then mentions that an important part of a scrivener’s job is to re-read what they have written in order to check for mistakes.
The Lawyer offers Bartleby the 20-dollar bonus and tells him he must go. Bartleby replies that he would prefer not to. The Lawyer tells him he must, but Bartleby sits there silently. The Lawyer gives Bartleby all the money the scrivener is owed, plus the 20-dollar bonus.
Finally, The Lawyer asks Ginger Nut what he thinks, and Ginger Nut replies that Bartleby is a “luny.”. So, The Lawyer again turns toward Bartleby’s screen, and urges Bartleby to come out and do his “duty.”. However, Bartleby neither replies nor emerges from his desk.
Next, The Lawyer details his employee Nippers, who is also a scrivener. Nippers is about twenty-five years old, has yellow complexion, wears a mustache, and, in The Lawyer’s view, is “victim of two evil powers—ambition and indigestion.”.
The Lawyer searches the desk, and finds that Bartleby’s papers are neatly laid out. However, beneath the papers, The Lawyer finds an old knotted handkerchief.
The Lawyer’s storytelling is, in itself, an example of language failing to properly communicate. Active Themes. The Lawyer then states that he is a lawyer, and describes his business as focusing around “rich men’s bonds, and mortgages, and title deeds.”.
Of course, Bartleby passively resists, and in escaping behind his screen (a make-shift wall), he disconnects himself, at least momentarily, from the rest of the office. Active Themes. The Lawyer stands there, unsure what to do. Finally he advances toward the screen, and asks Bartleby why he refuses.
The ending of Bartleby the Scrivener is very vague. At the end Battleby starves to death in prison, meaning that he not only fasted, but he also sacrificed himself. This is a reference to certain religious martyrs who sacrificed themselves in order to peacefully preserve their faith.
The lawyer's office almost fell apart because of Bartleby's persistence, and a video of the monk burning himself alive went viral, and ended up being a major world influence.
When the lawyer moves his office, leaving the scrivener in his old office, and Bartleby is eventually moved into prison, this could almost be related to the story of Jesus Christ.
This caused the narrator to be upset because Bartleby intrigued and challenged him in an almost inhuman way. I think Bartleby tried to express the idea of disobedience, no one he met would forget the 'silent' and 'strange' man who didn't comply then went to jail then starved himself to death. Reply. Ford Zacks.
When the narrator fully understands free will, this is when Bartleby dies. He served his purpose and now he is gone. Reply.
I think Bartleby is more of an idea then a person. Meaning, he represents the ability to have free will and doing what he "prefers" to do. The narrator has always lived in this society that does what they are told when they are told to. Once he is introduced to Bartleby and the idea of free-will he begins to admire it.
He reaches the point where he refuses to even eat, for he knows the food the prison will provide for him has been produce by the same unjust system he is trying to disrupt.
' The lawyer's second conflict is his inner conflict with himself. His desire to run his business in a proper fashion and to get rid of Bartleby is at war with his compassion for Bartleby. For a Wall Street lawyer, he is surprisingly passive-aggressive in his dealings with Bartleby.
Near the end of Bartleby, the Scrivener, Bartleby dies in the Tombs prison, where has been sent because of his homelessness. Bartleby dies of starvation in prison because he prefers not to eat there. On errands of life, these letters speed to death.
The lawyer does change during the story however Bartleby makes no changes | Course Hero. You can ask !
Bartleby never leaves the office, but repeats what he does all day long, copying, staring, and repeating his famous words of "I would prefer not to", leading readers to have another image of the repetition that leads to isolation on Wall Street and the American workplace.
The lawyer inspires trust, he works among the wealthy, he supports the status quo, and his clients feel safe with him. This characterizes him as an orthodox person who is a foil or opposite to Bartleby, a man who profoundly challenges the economic system in his "I prefer not to" refusal to work.
Ginger Nut - Ginger Nut is the the Lawyer's errand boy in "Bartleby the Scrivener." His name comes from the fact that Turkey, Nippers, and Bartleby often send him to get ginger nut cakes.
Rather than listening to his other employees and firing Bartleby, he basically fires himself by moving offices. The Narrator goes out of his way to visit him and make sure he gets food while there, even though Bartleby continues his apathetic behavior, until he commits suicide by starving himself to death.