Herman Melville: "Bartleby the Scrivener"
             The narrator's life in Herman Melville's "Bartleby The Scrivener" was dramatically changed by his encounter with Bartleby. The narrator thought he was hiring a harmless scrivener but later learns that he has gotten much more than he bargained for.
             Bartleby had come to the narrator by answering a classified advertisement. The narrator's initial opinion of Bartleby was that he was "'pallidly neat, pitiably respectable, and incurably forlorn.'" (238) Bartleby did exceptional work for his employer. He was quick and efficient, coming in before and leaving after the other employees.
             Everything started to change when one day, the narrator needed to have copies of a document examined for errors. He calls to his other scriveners then to Bartleby and much to his surprise, Bartleby replied with a singularly mild, firm voice stating "'I would prefer not to.'" (239) Of course the narrator is appalled! In thinking that perhaps he had heard wrong he asked again and was greeted with the same response. He should have turned Bartleby out on his ear for such subordination, but instead he just learned to live with it, changing their relationship forever.
             For every task that his employer asked other than the copying duties of a scrivener, Bartleby replied with the same response of "'I would prefer not to.'" (240) This perplexed the narrator immensely. He says, "'nothing so aggravates an earnest person as a passive resistance.'" (241) Throughout the entire piece, Bartleby has been passively indignant making it incredibly hard for the narrator to dismiss him. This disturbs the narrator endlessly. How can he be cruel to someone who so nicely turns down work? He tosses over and over in his head the solutions on overcoming this obstacle.
             The turning point occurs one Sunday, on ...