Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street by Herman Melville.
"'I would prefer not to'"(Melville, 653).
This story made almost no sense to me the first time I read it. After reading a second time, and after class discussion, I could finally make sense of the main point of the story. The main point of the story is not focused on Bartleby, but his soullessness and complete apathy towards everything. At first, I thought that Bartleby was just a stubborn jerk, but upon rethinking, I see that he is emotionally dead and can't help being stubborn. This is really about how people who work on Wall Street, or in any financial or dull job for that fact, become deadened by their routine. Bartleby being the extreme case, of course. I think it is important to recognize not only Bartleby as emotionally dead, but the narrator too.
I would just like to take this time to express how aggravating it is to me that I cannot call the narrator by name and that I am forced to use the arbitrary terms "him" or "the narrator".
The narrator himself is really in a rut from his job as a menial lawyer. It might be safe to hypothesize that as the reason for him sympathizing with Bartleby, they had a common connection.
Overall, I enjoyed this story. The beginning really had nothing of interest, but the end had some entertainment, or intrigue value.
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