Bartleby, the Scrivener; Bartleby, the Mirror

Michele Sharik
English 48A
Journal for Melville
September 27, 2009

"I prefer not to dine to-day," said Bartleby, turning away.... So saying he slowly moved to the other side of the inclosure, and took up a position fronting the dead-wall.

- Bartleby, the Scrivener

Melville, as he always does, began to reason of Providence and futurity, and of everything that lies beyond human ken, and informed me that he had "pretty much made up his mind to be annihilated"; but still he does not seem to rest in that anticipation; and, I think, will never rest until he gets hold of a definite belief.

-Nathaniel Hawthorne, Notebook Entry, November 20 1856



Herman Melville had cause to be depressed. Today, he is considered one of America's finest writers, but during his life, his work was largely unappreciated (despite some early successes and some international acclaim). In a letter to Nathaniel Hawthorne, Melville complained, "What I feel most moved to write, that is banned, -- it will not pay. Yet, altogether, write the other way I cannot." (Norton 2305) The character of Bartleby seems to be an exploration of Melville's feelings of despair and despondency, an examination of the question, "What would happen if I stopped participating in life?"

This feeling of underappreciation seems to be fairly common in the arts. I have spent many years in the world of classical music - I even attended Conservatory many years ago. I have known many composers who complain that their work does not receive popular acclaim, while the work of others (viewed to be trite and formulaic) is lauded far and wide.

Just as Bartleby was employed in a relatively mindless job -- in that no creativity was allowed; in fact, one could see that creativity would have been detrimental to the position--, Melville was likewise stuck in a dull and dead-end job (as a deputy customs inspector in New York City (Norton 2307)). As the workdays dragged on and on with no end in sight, it's easy to imagine Melville feeling as if there was no point to life, as if it made no difference to the world whether he was alive or dead. Bartleby may very well have been a mirror into Melville's psyche, a window into his soul.

By letting Bartleby "prefer not to" participate in life, perhaps Melville was able to continue participating in his own.

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