Bartleby, The Scrivener Summary: A Wall Street Enigma
TL;DR: A Quiet Battle of Wills
A quiet law office on Wall Street becomes the setting for an unusual disruption in Herman Melville’s novella, Bartleby, the Scrivener.
An unnamed lawyer who values routine and safety hires a new copyist to handle extra work.
The new employee, Bartleby, begins as a diligent and efficient worker.
His behavior changes, however, when he responds to a simple request with a polite but firm refusal.
This response marks the start of a conflict that reshapes the office’s daily life.
The story follows the lawyer’s attempts to understand and manage a situation that defies all his professional expectations.
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– An elderly Wall Street lawyer hires a new scrivener named Bartleby.
– Bartleby initially works hard but soon begins refusing tasks with the phrase “I would prefer not to.”
– His refusal extends to all duties, and he eventually stops working entirely.
– He also refuses to leave the office, even after the lawyer moves his practice elsewhere.
– The story tracks the lawyer’s frustration, pity, and failed attempts to help or remove Bartleby.
– Core conflicts involve passive resistance, isolation, and the limits of charity in a business-driven world.
– The novella ends with Bartleby’s arrest and death, followed by a revelation about his past work in a Dead Letter Office.
Bartleby, The Scrivener Summary: A Full Breakdown
Spoiler Warning: This section details the entire plot, including the ending.
The story begins with an unnamed elderly lawyer describing his Wall Street practice. He considers himself an “eminently safe man” who handles bonds, mortgages, and title-deeds.
His office is physically confined by tall brick walls, creating a claustrophobic atmosphere.
The lawyer employs two scriveners, Turkey and Nippers, who copy legal documents by hand.
Turkey is reliable in the morning but becomes erratic after lunch, while Nippers is irritable in the morning and calmer later. A twelve-year-old office boy named Ginger Nut runs errands for the copyists.
An increased workload from a new appointment prompts the lawyer to hire a third scrivener.
Bartleby arrives as a pale, neat, and quiet young man.
The narrator places him behind a screen in his own room, near a window facing a brick wall. At first, Bartleby copies documents with extraordinary speed and focus.
On his third day, the lawyer asks Bartleby to help compare a brief paper. Bartleby replies from behind the screen, “I would prefer not to.”
The lawyer is stunned but lets the matter pass. Bartleby’s refusals then multiply. He declines to examine his own copies, refuses errands, and will perform no task other than copying.
His coworkers watch with confusion, but Bartleby remains calm and immovable.
The narrator gradually realizes that Bartleby never leaves the office. He does not go out for meals and survives mainly on ginger-nuts brought by Ginger Nut.
One Sunday morning, the lawyer finds the office door locked from inside. Bartleby appears in his shirt sleeves and asks the lawyer to walk around the block.
After returning, the narrator discovers evidence that Bartleby has been living and sleeping in the office. This revelation fills the lawyer with pity for Bartleby’s extreme loneliness and poverty.
Still, Bartleby’s passivity eventually becomes a professional problem. He announces that he has given up copying altogether. He remains in the office as a silent, idle presence.
The lawyer tries to pay Bartleby to leave, but Bartleby refuses. Fearing damage to his reputation, the narrator decides to relocate his entire practice to new offices.
He leaves Bartleby behind in the old building. The landlord and new tenants soon contact the narrator, holding him responsible for Bartleby, who now haunts the building’s entryway and banisters.
The narrator returns and offers Bartleby alternative jobs, including bar work, store work, or living in his own home. Bartleby declines every option, saying he prefers to make no change at all.
The landlord has Bartleby arrested as a vagrant and sent to the Tombs prison.
The narrator visits Bartleby in the Tombs, where he stands alone facing a high wall.
Bartleby tells him, “I know you, and I want nothing to say to you.” The narrator pays a prison worker named Mr. Cutlets to provide Bartleby with good food, but Bartleby refuses to eat.
A few days later, the narrator finds Bartleby dead in the yard, curled against a stone wall. He closes Bartleby’s eyes and murmurs, “With kings and counselors.” In a final reflection, the narrator reveals a rumor.
Before working for him, Herman Melville’s character Bartleby may have been a clerk in the Dead Letter Office in Washington, where he handled undeliverable mail destined for destruction.
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Characters In This Book
| Character | Role |
|---|---|
| The Narrator | An unnamed elderly Wall Street lawyer who hires Bartleby and later abandons the office. |
| Bartleby | A pale and forlorn scrivener who gradually refuses all tasks and social contact. |
| Turkey | An elderly English scrivener who is steady in the morning but reckless after his noon dinner. |
| Nippers | A young, irritable scrivener who suffers from indigestion and ambition in the mornings. |
| Ginger Nut | A twelve-year-old office boy who fetches ginger-nut cakes for the copyists. |
| The Landlord | The owner of the building who has Bartleby arrested after the lawyer moves out. |
| The Perturbed Lawyer | A new tenant who holds the narrator responsible for Bartleby’s continued presence. |
| Mr. Cutlets | A prison grub-man paid by the narrator to provide food for Bartleby in the Tombs. |
Layers of Meaning
| Theme | How the book presents it |
|---|---|
| Resistance and Passive Non-Cooperation | Bartleby repeatedly refuses tasks with the mild phrase “I would prefer not to,” offering no anger or explanation. |
| Isolation and Friendlessness | Bartleby lives alone in the office, has no known relatives, rejects conversation, and eventually refuses food. |
| The Coldness of Modern Commerce | The Wall Street office is enclosed by dead walls, and work is mechanical, repetitive copying for profit. |
| Charity and Duty to Others | The narrator wrestles between compassion for Bartleby and concern for his own safety and reputation. |
| Hopelessness of Unrelieved Suffering | Bartleby’s decline ends in starvation and death, linked to his rumored past handling dead letters. |
About Herman Melville
Herman Melville was an American author born in 1819.
He drew on his experiences at sea for early novels like Typee and Moby-Dick. His later works, including this novella, took a more philosophical and often darker turn.
Despite limited commercial success during his lifetime, Melville’s reputation grew significantly after his death.
Books Similar to Bartleby, The Scrivener
- The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy — A novella about a professional man confronting mortality and the emptiness of middle-class routine.
- The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka — A story of absurdist alienation where a man becomes physically non-functional and burdens his family.
- The Stranger by Albert Camus — A novel featuring an emotionally detached protagonist indifferent to societal expectations.
- Wakefield by Nathaniel Hawthorne — A short story about a man who quietly withdraws from his own life to observe from a distance.
- The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol — A tale of a low-level clerk whose identity collapses after the loss of a prized possession.
| Element | Details |
|---|---|
| Genre & Subgenre | Fiction / Philosophical Novella / Absurdist Fiction |
| Core Narrative Tropes | The Mysterious Stranger, Silent Protest, The Reluctant Benefactor |
| Tone & Atmosphere | Claustrophobic, sterile, desolate, quietly humorous |
| Primary Conflict | Bartleby’s passive withdrawal from capitalist society versus the narrator’s duty and self-interest |
| Pacing Style | Gradual, deliberate, cyclical; built on repeated refusals |
| ISBN-10 | 1530733332 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1530733330 |
| Pages | 58 |
| Book Structure | Single continuous narrative without chapter divisions, ending with a brief epilogue |
Memorable Quotes from Bartleby, The Scrivener
“I would prefer not to.” — Bartleby
“Ah, happiness courts the light, so we deem the world is gay; but misery hides aloof, so we deem that misery there is none.” — The Narrator
“I might give alms to his body; but his body did not pain him; it was his soul that suffered, and his soul I could not reach.” — The Narrator
“At present I would prefer not to be a little reasonable.” — Bartleby
“Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!” — The Narrator
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Who Should Read Bartleby, The Scrivener?
This novella suits readers who enjoy slow-building philosophical fiction and quiet, unsettling narratives.
Those interested in early American literature, workplace drama, or stories about social withdrawal will find the premise engaging.
The book operates with very little action, relying instead on repetition and a claustrophobic office setting. Its tone is both dryly humorous and deeply somber.
Readers who prefer fast plots or clear resolutions may find the pacing difficult. The story’s focus on a single mysterious act of refusal creates a unique reading experience rooted in ambiguity.
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