Commentary on Bartleby, the Scrivener”: The character of the narrator might be identified as a rather self-centered man who would rather “prefer not to” undergo a confrontation with any of his employees. This is evident in his descriptions of the employees and his supposed good intentions when he presents himself as a tolerant, helpful man. It is obvious that his intentions and actions are only for his own self-interest and his desire to be thought of as helping those who are less fortunate than he is.
The character of the narrator might be identified as a rather self-centered man who would rather ‘prefer not to’ undergo a confrontation with any of his employees. This is evident in his descriptions of the employees and his so-called good intentions when he sets himself as a tolerant, conducive man. It is obvious that his intentions and actions are only for his own self-interest and his wanting to be thought of as helping those who are not as fortunate as he. All along, what he hopes to achieve with his charity is to help soothe his own vision by improving the physical state of others.
His avoidance of confrontation is quite evident when he moves out of his office instead of having Bartleby physically removed by the authorities. His character is tested with Bartleby’s passive-aggressive attitude. However, I cannot agree totally that he is softened” by his acquaintance with Bartleby because in some regards, he was already soft. Bartleby is definitely cut from a stronger cloth, although he certainly has his own mode of communication. He does not give in to the Wall Street hardness and does not do anything that does not suit him.
He takes life for what it is worth, nothing more and nothing less. Even though he literally does not ask for anything, he sends his message loud and clear: I will do what I feel necessary to survive and everything else, I would prefer not to.”
It is somewhat comical that in the strong corporate atmosphere of the business world, you have a boss who would prefer to” pack it up and get away from an employee rather than deal with him. All in all, the narrator is not cold and does end up with a conscience, which is evident by his checking on Bartleby both at the old office and the jail. I think Bartleby challenged him in a way that he had never been challenged before, and quite honestly, he did not know exactly what to do with him.
I find the relationship between the author and Bartleby to be very strange and unrealistic, at least in today’s society. Bartleby, an employee of the author, is under the command of the author and is getting paid to do what the author says to do. Although Bartleby is very polite and non-confrontational when refusing to do a job the author requests, Bartleby is still refusing.
If he’s not doing what his boss says regarding his job, he shouldn’t get paid. The job is not getting done. If a situation like this happened today in most workplaces, I would think that the non-compliant employee would be terminated from their position that day. The author, however, allows Bartleby to act however he chooses, even when Bartleby is doing no work whatsoever. An employer today would view this behavior as damaging to their wallet and would waste no time firing the employee. Personally, I would have fired Bartleby because he wouldn’t even give a reason for not doing anything.
Jennifer, I think the strange relationship between Bartleby and the employer is supposed to seem unrealistic. It makes the reader, especially modern ones, think exactly the way you did in your post. The fact that employers would not or should not put up with this kind of insubordination is exactly true. It makes you wonder what it is about Bartleby that makes the employer sympathetic to his needs.” The boss seems to understand that there is something intrinsically wrong with Bartleby, an underlying sadness that he cannot determine the cause of, and I think he cares for him a great deal and also pities him.
This is why he does not fire him or take extreme measures until he absolutely has to. Jen, I see what you mean about Bartleby’s relationship with the author.
