Bartleby the Scrivener Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Bartleby the Scrivener - Essay Example The symbolism of the food had important meaning in the story. Bartleby was not attracted to food, which could symbolize greed. This was subtly shown in the story by the author when he named the two other scrivener after food ( Ginger Nut and Turkey ). I was struck by the details of the scenes and puzzled at first about Bartleby. Later on, I realized that the lawyer who seemed like a decent person also used food to bargain with Bartleby. The lawyer was thinking that for a few morsels of food, he could have a peaceful conscience, thereby revealing the materialistic attitude of the lawyer. As for Bartleby’s attitude to refuse doing his job by politely saying â€Å" I prefer not to† , the issue is not all about laziness or being obstinate. It was Bartleby’s philosophy towards life that forebodes something in his past that could have made him a beaten down man .Maybe the drudgery has gotten to him and broken his spirit causing him to have passive resistance to almost everything in his life. This is what makes the story enigmatic. In the second half of the story, the lawyer is trying to remove Bartleby because he feels that Bartleby is negatively affecting his business. He is just sulking in one corner of the office the whole day. Later, the lawyer moved his office and the new tenant at the old place kicks Bartleby out. Bartleby just hangs around the hallways of the building like a specter – after all, where would he go? After some time, the lawyer finds out that Bartleby was arrested and jailed for this behavior .Later the lawyer visits him in jail but Bartleby is not interested in his concern. The second time the lawyer visited him, he has died in the yard. He died in jail because he â€Å"would prefer not to† eat. I felt the story had come to a sad conclusion until the lawyer informs us that Bartleby once worked at the Dead letter office. Bartleby found his existence meaningless after coming from there, burning letters sent to