Essay on Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street

Melville early enough presents the lawyer to us as an unreliable and frequently inaccurate narrator. A good example is seen wherein the introductory part of the story the lawyer mention and state that the story focuses on Bartleby but proceed for six pages without a mention of him. The communication from the lawyer is not something we can bank on. He fails to keep his words, how else can we trust him with more?

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The productivity of the employees for the half of the day shows how disconnected the Lawyer's office is and people prove not to be only separated by walls but also by temperament. The lawyer tends to understand that Turkey's problem emanate from his drinking habits, but he is shy to tell him. This is ironical because he is the boss. The lawyer shying away from Turkey's issue is a good example of the failure of language to show the truth and the fact that the Lawyer shuns away from referring Turkey by his official name.

Another scenario where the language fails to communicate adequately is where the lawyer fails to use Nippers' real name and his description of Nipper as a victim of ambition and indigestion is untrue. They say dreams are valid and if so, Nipper should be ambitious. To some extend my thoughts go to an extended of thinking the lawyer wanted to present Nipper as a drug addict. The irritability is caused by not having his fix, and the frequent visits to prisons and courts are possible sites for drug deals.

The lawyer is more concern with the purity of the image of his workplace and overlooks the reality. He pays two men to work half a day each and still considers them useful. It is disturbing when the same usefulness cannot be accorded to Nipper and Turkey when they work for half a day too. This is an excellent example of how disjointed and disconnected the office stands.

Ginger Nut is an intern, despite that he gets a desk in the full room. Ginger never uses the space making it empty and useless. The language is used as a tool to obscure the truth other than reveal it. This comes to light when Turkey uses the cake as a seal and talks his way out of being fired or at least get reprimanded. The lawyer mentions Bartleby in his written ad in a quest to find the connective power of language but fails to uphold this in the rest of the story.

The lawyer gets to learn about some qualifications that Bartleby has and does not point that to the readers is a failure of language. The workspace that the lawyer operates in is also said to be a disconnected modern office. The employer isolates himself in a room, and despite bringing Bartleby close to him, he installs a screen around the Scrivener to avoid seeing his employees.

Before his usefulness diminishes, the lawyer is already skeptical of Bartleby just because he is not happy with his work. The office disconnection is great that he avoids bringing this up with Bartleby. The lawyer is stating that a crucial part of the job that Scrivener performs is correcting copies points at the imperfection of the language. Those who write exact copies the whole day also commit some errors.

The lawyer attempts to move Bartleby close to where the seats. This is done so that the agent saves time when they are reviewing papers together. The agency assumes Bartleby will comply without consulting scrivener. Bartleby shows a low passive resistance towards the move.

The lawyer is quick to point out language or his capacity to understand it as a hindrance. The lawyer has to come to an understanding that Bartleby is resisting and not refusing and instead present him with his preferences. Bartleby leaves the reaction of his preferences to the lawyer. Other than assuming that Bartleby is cheeky, the lawyer tries to study a man he doesn't know and goes ahead to try and connect to someone who cares less about their connection. The success of Bartleby comes when the lawyer avoids dealing with him immediately and instead calls Nippers from somewhere else to help to leave Bartleby for his comfort. This means Bartleby became successful and achieved what he wanted.

Further, in the story, the lawyer attributes Nippers' calmness to bear and Turkey being upset to beer. This is linguistically nonsensical. The language failing to connect people is evident when the lawyer request Bartleby to go to the Post office where we later learn he worked in the Dead Letter Office. This puts Bartleby off. When Bartleby passes on, is when the lawyer came to know about his past occupation.

The attorney is asking God to bless Bartleby conflict with his earlier idea that he was brought into his life via predestination. If the lawyer wanted him to be truly blessed, he would have continually taken good care of him. When the fellow lawyers ask the lawyer to take responsibility for Bartleby, he says he is "nothing" to him which seems to be necessarily true because the lawyer does not know anything about Bartleby personal life.

Conclusion

It is a daunting task always to eulogize a great man, and so it is when analyzing a great story. It is a continuous press of buttons, and the more you write, the more the ideas around your head, and you seem to want to write one more word, one more page, and that one more chapter.

Works Cited

Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story Of Wall-Street. www.bing.com/cr?IG=899C565F572A4BD6B1C22B369273A311&CID=161B6FD0ADE6E97325365E4A7EF6F41&rd=1&h=8Eowj7kExpZkpLv7WyySYGn5QOfwdbL_nuPrfoKE9I&v=1&r=http%3a%2f%2fmoglen.law.columbia.edu%2fLCS%2fbartleby.pdf&p=DevEx,5061.1. Accessed 24 Feb. 2017.