And, in fact, The Lawyer justifies that keeping Bartleby on costs him little to nothing, but it makes him feel charitable and eases his Christian conscious. After considering firing Bartleby once more, The Lawyer decides not to, as he becomes busy with other matters and decides that Bartleby is useful for what he does provide-vast quantities of writing.

Bartleby listens, but again repeats that he’d “prefer not to” help. He considers firing Bartleby, but decides to try to reason with him, telling him that it’s common courtesy in this industry to go over copy for errors as a group. When his boss asks him to examine a paper with him for errors, Bartleby replies that he “would prefer not to.” At first The Lawyer thinks he has misheard his employee, but when he repeats himself and Bartleby again prefers not to help, a pattern emerges that The Lawyer must reckon with. While at first Bartleby proves an excellent employee, producing a huge quality of writing for his employer, his working habits are rigid and peculiar. Bartleby comes for an interview, and The Lawyer hires him. But, rather than focus on a group of them, he will tell the tale of the oddest one he’s known: Bartleby.Īfter explaining that his office is occupied by himself, two other scrivener employees ( Turkey, who is a drunk and therefore only useful before he starts drinking at lunch, and Nippers, who has some kind of habit that means he is only productive during the afternoon hours), and Ginger Nut, a twelve-year-old office boy, The Lawyer says that he has posted an ad to hire a new employee.

The story, set in a Wall Street law office in the mid-1800’s, begins with the unnamed narrator, The Lawyer, stating that he would like to focus his tale on a group of humanity as of yet unwritten about: scriveners, or law-copyists, of whom he’s known many.

Melville scrivener