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A Theme of Individual Choice in Bartleby, the Scrivener Story

Essay details

  • Category:

    Life

  • Topic:

    Choices

  • Words: 1352 (3 pages)
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I Would Prefer Not To

As the visionary scrivener named Bartleby once said, “I would prefer not to.” This was his choice. It was his own independent decision to not do work. However, this ended badly for Bartleby, resulting in his death. The lawyer also made some choices that ended badly for him. He decided not to fire Bartleby after he refused to do work, which caused problems to escalate. Humans have the ability to choose based on independent, individual thought, although no matter how much of a good ability it is, it has dangerous potential. This is a major theme in the story “Bartleby, The Scrivener.”

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Bartleby was presented many times with the choice to do work for the lawyer, and by his own will, he chose not to every time. When asked to do a task, Bartleby responded, “I would prefer not to.” He even used his “impaired vision” from copying in the dark as an excuse to stop doing work. When the lawyer asked, “suppose your eyes should get entirely well -- better than ever before -- would you not copy then?” (679), Bartleby responded, “I have given up copying” (679). As the lawyer continued to allow Bartleby to choose not to work, he unintentionally allowed Bartleby to gain power over him. This led to Bartleby living in the office building, which the lawyer did not like but still allowed, which also led to the lawyer having to buy a new office building and the eventual arrest of Bartleby for continuing to live in the building bought by another company. Bartleby, who ended up in prison, was visited by the lawyer, who saw that Bartleby was choosing not to eat. Bartleby’s poor decisions caused him to die of starvation in prison. This also goes to show that just because one person would choose not to do something, that does not mean that the choice is a good one.

As for the lawyer, he also made some bad decisions. He hired Bartleby after only having a brief interview and without seeing any sort of résumé of Bartleby’s. This was a poor decision not knowing who he had hired. Also, after ever time Bartleby had prefered not to do something, the lawyer chose to brush it off and act like it never happened. “I concluded to forget the matter for the present” (670), said the lawyer. Another choice the lawyer made was to not fire Bartleby, regardless that he became a terrible worker. The lawyer stated, “Some days passed, the scrivener being employed upon another lengthy work” (672). Bartleby continued to be employed while preferring not to do work. The lawyer chose to keep employing Bartleby because he thought it was his responsibility to look after him. Eventually, the lawyer told him that he had to quit. “The time has come; you must quit this place; I am sorry for you; here is money; but you must go” (680). He supplied Bartleby with money that he did not owe him, which Bartleby ungratefully accepted. After accepting the money, Bartleby still would not leave. The lawyer kept faith that Bartleby would turn around, however, Bartleby continued to use the lawyer to get a place to stay and money, both of which he did not deserve. The lawyers choices to continue helping Bartleby had negative effects on himself, causing him to lose his building.

The theme of humans’ ability to choose based on their own reasoning is shown to have negative effects in “Bartleby, The Scrivener.” Bartleby’s choices, which were based on his own preferences, caused his inevitable death to occur sooner than it needed to. The lawyer’s choices, however good the intention, had only negative effects on himself.

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