Greg Hyak's "The Mentally Disturbed Scrivener"

"Bartleby, The Scrivener" is an interesting story of a seemingly homeless, mentally disturbed scrivener. His previous employment at the Dead Letter Office at Washington which is mentioned at the end of the story gives some insight as to why Bartleby acts the way he does. Throughout the story, however, Bartleby is seen by the owner of the law office as someone deprived of everything which made him feel a sense of urgency throughout the story to favors for the less fortunate scrivener, but the scrivener's unwillingness to "prefer" to do anything the owner wishes of him forces the owner to leave him by changing offices.

There is a lot of play on the word "prefer" throughout the story. Because of Bartleby's constant use of the word, the narrator seems to sense it is becoming a part of both him and his colleagues vocabulary which seems to be a turn for the worse.

Another interesting description is the dead brick wall which is able to be viewed out of the window. It was described as very boring and "dead." Later in the story, Bartleby is said to be staring at the wall often and for long periods of time which seems to show that he can relate the way he feels to the wall as being dead and dull and having no real meaning in life.

The end of the story brings out the narrator's compassion for Bartleby, because he tries to help the "dead" and boring scrivener until he dies in a courtyard. The story shows how people are compassionate toward the less fortunate. The author could have related to Bartleby through previous experiences or beliefs and is probably trying to convey the message because of this.

[Bartleby -- Full Text]

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