Bartleby the Scrivener, by Herman Melville, is representative of the political and economic climate of the period of time in which it was written. During the mid 19th century, money was becoming more prevalent than it had ever been before. Bartleby the Scrivener is a story about a Wall Street lawyer and a copyist he hires – a man who eventually withers away and dies of starvation. Bartleby the Scrivener was written in a time when Wall Street was becoming the machine it is today; Melville’s writing is encompassed by the political climate of the mid 1800s.
A Wall Street lawyer who remains unnamed tells the story of Bartleby. During the mid-nineteenth century there were no photocopiers so people employed workers referred to as “copyists”. Copyists, also known as scriveners or law clerks, are workers who would recopy information, as it was needed by different businesses. The story begins with the lawyer, who is narrating, telling about each of his employees. He describes their different habits – one is functional in the morning and the other is functional in the evening. Three employees- with names matching perfectly fitting their characteristics – are described. Turkey, despite being a proficient copyist during the morning, becomes belligerent in the afternoons. The lawyer suspects that Turkey drinks alcohol during his lunch break. Nippers, another copyist, is proficient in the afternoons but often suffers from indigestion in the mornings. Also, he tends to overstep his bounds as a copyist, attempting to fulfill the lawyer’s role. Lastly, the lawyer describes an errand boy named Ginger Nut who brings cakes for the rest of the employees.
The lawyer had been recently appointed to a political position called master in chancery and had a sudden increase in his business. In order to manage the newly added demand, the lawyer decides to hire a new clerk. He finds a person named Bartleby – a calm and sedate person. Bartleby is assigned a position next to the lawyer and performs his job very well at first. Bartleby sat there for hours on end, writing and writing like a model scrivener. Eventually, the lawyer asks Bartleby to review certain copied documents with him. A review involved two parties reading an original document and a copied document aloud to verify their consistencies. Bartleby replied, “I would prefer not to”, a line that he echoed several more times throughout the story.
The lawyer was shocked by these words, as he had never been denied before. Bartleby had been so polite with his phrasing that the lawyer could not criticize him. These words also brought about a growing curiosity about Bartleby within the lawyer. Eventually, the lawyer realizes that Bartleby lives in his office. After asking Bartleby about his past, Bartleby “prefers” not to tell him. As time went by the lawyer continued to ask Bartleby to read aloud with him. Bartleby continuously refused, and eventually stopped copying altogether.
The lawyer cannot handle Bartleby any longer at one point and fires him. Bartleby refuses to leave, and the lawyer move his offices in order to get away from him. The new tenant could not remove Bartleby either, so Bartleby was eventually arrested and sent to jail. In a final attempt to make sense of the character Herman Melville includes an epilogue describing Bartleby’s earlier job in a Dead Letter office, a job that seemed to remove the life from him.
Melville’s influence for this short story can be attributed to the socioeconomic climate of his life, and the time in which he was living. Bartleby the Scrivener was written after Melville’s original book, Moby Dick, was unsuccessful. Bartleby may be reflecting Melville’s internal conflicts due to his previous failures.
Bartleby reflects the class conflicts and capitalist pressures that America was undergoing during the 19th century. The conflict that the lawyer has with Bartleby can be viewed as a labor dispute. Also, the narrator’s ongoing internal debate about what to do with Bartleby can be interpreted to represent anxieties of the middle-class regarding how they should treat the poor. Wealth and money are themes that are present throughout the story, often brought up by the lawyer. Every single character of the story uses money, especially to buy food. Money is also mentioned when the lawyer offers Bartleby a raise in order to convince him to leave the office. The lack of Bartleby’s desire to continue writing for money can be seen as the author’s way of criticizing the market for literature during the 1800s.
Originally, the author hired Bartleby because he appeared to be a good worker that could be employed for little money. Little did the lawyer know that Bartleby would end up costing him more than he could have imagined. Bartleby began to appear to be a charity case to him eventually; the lawyer surmised he had a mental illness. Even when Bartleby was sent to jail for refusing to leave the office, the lawyer still used money to make sure that Bartleby would be well fed. This brings to light the internal conflict that the lawyer had regarding Bartleby; the lawyer treated Bartleby as a charity case.
Bartleby The Scrivener was published in the years leading up to the civil war. The tensions between the north and south were increasing, and the country was at the brink of war. Capitalism and the industrial boom had led to increased prosperity in the north. The south was unhappy with how it felt that it was being treated, and it decided to protect its rights. Bartleby The Scrivener reflects the surge of capitalism during the 19th century and the feelings that people had about capitalism. Melville was undoubtedly influenced by the many events that were occurring around him.
Not only was slavery a huge conflict in the South, the North was considered to harbor “wage slaves” in its factories. The workers in the north were being paid close to nothing for their long hours and hard work. Melville can be interpreted as criticizing this when the lawyer mentions how well Bartleby works and how cheap he is costing him.
During the 1850s the argument between wage-laborers and capitalists had grown to the point of strikes and violence. Melville mentions Jacob Astor, a rising wealthy aristocrat at the time, as someone who the lawyer is now working for. The time period in which Melville writes this story in is representative of the transition between skilled workers into financial tycoons. The lawyer’s office contains elements of both the old system of skilled workers and drops hints of the new economic climate by mentioning the lawyer’s ties with Jacob Astor.
Overall, Melville was clearly influenced by many external sources during his writing of Bartleby The Scrivener. The political and economic climates during the mid 1850s served as a basis for some of the ideals he incorporated into the story. Although it is debated whether politics were a significant influence in his work, they clearly played a key role in the story.
