Herman Melville "Bartleby" Flashcards
Who wrote “Bartleby”
Herman Melville
time period and relevant historical context “Bartleby”
Published in 1853
Melville grew up in a wealthy family but as a teenager, his family lost their wealth and joined the working class
plot summary “Bartleby”
The unnamed narrator is a lawyer who works in a legal office on Wall Street looking to hire a new scrivener to counterbalance his other scriveners Turkey and Nippers (who both have health and temper issues). He hires Bartleby who is quiet and productive, but begins to refuse the narrator’s requests with the simple answer, “I would prefer not to” and discovers he is living in the office. The narrator grows increasingly frustrated (though also sympathetic and compassionate) with Bartleby, attempting to reason with him, coerce him, and eventually firing him, although he refuses to leave. The narrator eventually moves offices, but Bartleby remains and will not be moved by anyone including the narrator himself until the landlord calls the police on Bartleby and sends him to jail where he refuses food (despite the narrator’s kind patronage) until he dies. He is revealed to have worked in a dead letter office.
key characters “Bartleby”
Bartleby noncompliant scrivener
Unnamed narrator lawyer and boss
Turkey angry in the morning
Nippers angry in the afternoon
Ginger Nut 12 year old who brings food to the workers
notable formal or stylistic elements “Bartleby”
primarily 1st person narration
limited perspective
important themes and recurring motifs “Bartleby”
alienation of labor, depression, isolation, industrialization
literary ‘schools’ or genres; analytical concepts; relevance to history “Bartleby”
alienation of labor
written during a period of rapid industrialization
2-3 quotation samples “Bartleby”
other useful hints ID “Bartleby”
“I would prefer not to”, law/office setting, copying, scriveners, other office jargon
