Bartleby the Scrivener, by Herman Melville is a narrative that takes place on Wall Street. Bartleby has the characteristics of an autistic person. In the story Bartleby is the protagonist; he was an individualist of the most extreme type who eventually suffers a death of attrition. The narrator of this story is Bartleby's employer who tells this story in the second person perspective. This paper will focus on a literary analysis of Bartleby and his associates.
             The first focus of this paper will be the setting. In the time period that Bartleby the Scrivener was written there were intense changes happening in the American economic and social sphere, which was around the mid nineteenth century; the time of industrialism. As mentioned earlier, this story takes place on Wall Street. Bartleby has a corner office with one window in front of him. The narrator says "I placed his desk close up to a small side window in that part of the room, a window which originally had afforded a lateral view of certain grimy back yards and bricks, but which, owing to subsequent erections, commanded at present no view at all, though it gave some light (9)." He was a workaholic; he would work day and night. "There was no pause for digestion. He ran a day and night line, copying by sunlight and by candlelight (7)." He sits in his office and stares out the window; his view is a concrete building.
             The charters of this story are symbolic to the setting. The main character, as mentioned earlier, is Bartleby; the protagonist. I feel that he may represent the rising industrial worker; his actions throughout this story show the desire to protect a sense of self-dignity. One character is Ginger Nut. His character is a symbol of youth and purpose. He was placed in the firm by his father and his future is mapped out for him by his father. Ginger Nut, in turn, spends the least amount of time as possible in the office, as most children of...