Bartleby The Scrivener Response

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“Bartleby, the Scrivener” is a story of passive resistance. Refusing to bow to the demands of his employer, Bartleby represents a challenge to the corporatist ideology. He is an unassuming figure that exercises an enormous amount of power by refusing to comply with simple requests made by his employer. The story begins with the employer having trouble finding good employees. This is until the employer hires Bartleby. Bartleby works hard and does his job well. After three days of working diligently in a legal office in Wall Street, Bartleby is asked by his boss to examine a paper, but replies with “I would prefer not to”. The story ends with Bartleby being discovered occupying the office at weekends and being taken into custody for refusing to leave the office building.
The phrase “would prefer not to” recurs throughout the story and its repetition makes Bartleby’s colleagues incredibly angry. The five simple words create a paradoxical significance within the narrative. Bartleby uses the word “would” to make it seem as though he has a choice. However, his politeness is only an illusion. Bartleby continuously refuses to do anything asked of him. The story is a form of resistance based on the paradox of appearing to yield while yielding not at all. The addition of politeness only adds to Bartleby’s power because he knows that …show more content…
Bartleby does not like change. “I would prefer not to make any change” he says. In fact, he prefers not to go very far at all. He works, eats, and sleeps all in the same place. He is unable to move out of his private world and make public aspects of himself. He copies documents, but refuses to compare them for that would mean working with someone, which wasn’t part of his former job. This neurotic behavior is underlined by Bartleby’s depressive characteristics. Ultimately he has no will to eat anything or to do
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