What does Bartleby refuse to do a few days after the lawyer discovers him in his office on a Sunday? (2024)

What does Bartleby refuse to do a few days after the lawyer discovers him in his office on a Sunday?

A few days later, Bartleby refuses to take part in scanning his own sheaf of quadruplicates. The lawyer, exasperated to the breaking point, asks his other employees their opinion in the matter. Turkey agrees that the lawyer has made a reasonable request; Nippers suggests that they kick Bartleby out of the office.

What does Bartleby refuse to do?

By refusing to move, take on more work and take in more food, Bartleby achieves an ascetic purity, and this is borne out by significant references to his “hermitage”, a place of silence and solitude for him. By the end of the story, the constant refusals wear everyone down.

What happens to Bartleby when he continues to refuse to leave the office?

Bartleby is as passively stubborn as ever. The Lawyer even offers to allow Bartleby to live in his own home, but Bartleby refuses to move from the banister. The Lawyer, helpless and stupefied, simply leaves. Bartleby is arrested as a vagrant and thrown in jail.

How the lawyer responds to Bartleby's refusal to work?

He soon discovers that Bartleby is living in the office. Resolved to rid himself of the reluctant employee, the Lawyer fires Bartleby and gives him his final wages. Still, Bartleby refuses to leave. Unable to conceive of any other way to rid himself of Bartleby, the Lawyer moves his practice to a new office.

What does the narrator find when he goes to visit Bartleby a few days later?

A few days later, the Narrator returns to check in with Bartleby. He discovers the scrivener lying dead in the prison yard. The Narrator ends with a meditation upon Bartleby's former job, as an employee of the Dead Letter Office.

What does the narrator do when Bartleby refuses to quit his office?

I can get along with him.” When the narrator discovers that Bartleby lives in his office, without his permission, the narrator is unable to ask him to leave. He again rationalizes this decision. The narrator comments on the loneliness of Wall Street on nights and weekends, and empathizes for the lonely Bartleby.

What is Bartleby resisting?

It's possible to argue that Bartleby is resisting the increasingly capitalistic and materialistic culture in which he finds himself. It's also possible to argue that the story is showing how cruelly society treats any kind of nonconformist who dares to resist that society's values.

What does the narrator learn about Bartleby when he stops by the office on a Sunday?

The narrator makes several attempts to reason with Bartleby or to learn something about him, but never has any success. When the narrator stops by the office one Sunday morning, he discovers that Bartleby is living there. He is saddened by the thought of the life the young man must lead.

What does Bartleby reply when asked to go to the office?

In "Bartleby, the Scrivener" by Herman Melville, the character Bartleby continuously uses the phrase, "I prefer not to" when asked to do something.

What is Bartleby refusing when he begins to utter the phrase I would prefer not to?

Summary. The Lawyer, the narrator of the story, has already been surprised once before by Bartleby's refusal to examine a document, as all scriveners (law- copyists) are required to do. Bartleby said he would "prefer not to," and the Lawyer was so surprised that he hadn't argued with him.

Does the dead letter office really explain Bartleby's actions?

Although Dead Letters never appear as a part of Bartleby's arc in the story, their inclusion at the end of the story serves to possibly illuminate Bartleby's initial motivation to passively resist any part of his job other than writing—after years of destroying communication and language, perhaps he craved to partake ...

What is the irony in Bartleby the Scrivener?

In an example of situational irony, the passive resistance that Bartleby uses to gain power and control (over what work tasks he has to do, where he lives, and more) eventually leads to his imprisonment and death.

Why does the lawyer hire Bartleby?

A successful lawyer on Wall Street hires Bartleby, a scrivener, to relieve the load of work experienced by his law firm. For two days, Bartleby executes his job with skill and gains the owner's confidence for his diligence.

What is the narrator's main problem with Bartleby?

The narrator is the polar opposite of Bartleby because Bartleby speaks his mind and doesn't do what he is told. Throughout the beginning of his relationship with Bartleby, the narrator isn't able to confront Bartleby, when he doesn't do his work, and instead turns his feelings of scorn into sympathy.

Does the narrator try to help Bartleby?

The narrator seems to have a sincere wish to help Bartleby in whatever way he can. His sincerity, though, is questionable. Every time the narrator tries to assist Bartleby, he seems to do it only to gratify himself.

What plan did the lawyer come up with to get rid of Bartleby?

So, The Lawyer decides that since Bartleby will not quit, The Lawyer “must quit him.” He plans to find a new office, and then tell Bartleby that if he finds him at this new location he will have to treat him as a “common trespasser.” The next day, The Lawyer tells Bartleby that he will be moving offices next week, and ...

What is the allegory in Bartleby?

The story of “Bartleby the Scrivener” is an allegory of reading that denounces the impossibility of the humanizing process of reading or of ever reaching any significant meaning or closure.

Why is the narrator in Bartleby unreliable?

For instance, the narrator convinces himself that Bartleby is a poor fellow who needs his charity. The narrator's vanity and prejudices affect his interpretation of people's behavior and the events in the story, hence making him an unreliable narrator.

What is Bartleby's refrain?

That work was called “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street,” and was published at the very end of 1853. It's known today mostly because so many people can quote its famous refrain of “I would prefer not to,” uttered, time and again, by the title character.

Why does Bartleby refuse to eat?

He refuses to divulge any personal information to the narrator. Bartleby's death is consistent with depression—having no motivation to survive, he refrains from eating until he dies.

Why does Bartleby stop writing?

At some point, however, like all vocations and calls, the letters become silent, the voice of his work disappears, or perhaps the one of the previous job becomes far too loud. Thus Bartleby no longer works, he stops writing and transcribing. He preferred not, as well as I do.

What does the narrator assume is the reason why Bartleby refuses to cooperate?

From the narrator's perspective, Bartleby's refusal to cooperate with the other scriveners can be seen as a result of his work in the Dead Letter Office. He has dealt with letters that should have communicated hope, pardon, and "good tidings" but instead were never delivered.

What does Bartleby do when the lawyer relocates?

It is Bartleby's soul that suffers, and his soul cannot be reached. In the end, the lawyer relocates his office on Broadway closer to City Hall, and the owner of the Wall Street building has the police remove Bartleby. He is taken to the Tombs, where he refuses to eat or communicate.

Is Bartleby about mental illness?

Looking at the story from a psychological perspective, Bartleby can be “diagnosed” with several mental disorders such as depression, anorexia, agoraphobia, etc. The condition, whichever it may be, may have first developed during Bartleby's time as a clerk in the Dead Letter Office, a grim place where letters go to die.

Why is Bartleby thrown in jail?

With time he restrains from any office work and when forced to leave the office, he refuses. The narrator decided to shift his business to a different place to avoid problems with him. Bartleby is arrested and taken to prison when he fails to comply with the new tenants.

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