Review of Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville

I have met people like Bartleby.

People at work who get around doing work. They spend whole days not doing work, while inhabiting the office, chatting, checking the supply of snacks in the break room, chatting again, peering over the cubicle, browsing netflix, scribbling in their notebook. Whole days pass and they do not turn their computers on. They have not done anything for months, but they are getting paid to be there. In fact they are always on time. You can’t say anything against them because you can’t tell what they do. You’re not their supervisor, or maybe you are, but you consider them harmless, try to ignore them.
Melville’s treatment of the subject felt very satirical, yet apt. The relationships he depicts in the office are memorable and charming. The descriptions are vivid and the prose is scintillating. The ending is sad.
The author is trying to communicate a similar attitude as a few Dostoyevsky character’s possess, which I’ve encountered lately, that is, a certain relation of man to man, one of charity, benevolence, giving the benefit of the doubt. We live among monsters. We don’t need to become one ourselves. No matter how we have been wronged, cheated or humiliated, we might still be kind.
The office is a sort of closed system. A great setting for exploring human relationships.
Meeting with a sheer refusal in the workplace is not something I’ve often dealt with. However, I can easily see it happening. People are too quick to define their own parameters and job duties. They are petrified of being made uncomfortable. They are conniving in that they will shove the work onto another’s desk. Anything out of the ordinary is to be dodged. How often have you been moved between departments while trying to get some piece of silly bureaucracy done?
It is worse with the higher-ups, who no one can tell you what they actually do, who are available for periods of time ill-defined, like five minutes every third Wednesday, and if you send them a task or request outside of that time, you’re out of luck. People who come into the office once a month or so, twiddle their thumbs, and then head back home to “work remotely.”
Bartleby’s refusal to be productive is met with passive resistance. One wonders how long he can keep up the charade. The truth is it is inborn. He will keep it up the rest of his life. A procrastinator extraordinaire, to the point where he attracts much attention, and finally condemns himself.
A sad end but an appropriate one for a shirker.
I love Melville’s quest to explore the inner reaches of the human soul. His commitment to excellence in writing and his portrayal of deeply human characters in a variety of settings.
Hoping to delve into his works again periodically.