How Is Bartleby Selfish

A singular label for the previous and present generation is selfish. Homo sapiens have forgotten how to care for others and now follow a path of selflessness. Bartleby the Scrivener, A Tale of Wall Street written by Herman Melville, takes readers on a journey back in time. Throughout this journey, the author describes his brief encounter with the main character {Bartleby}. As the story progresses, the author describes the actions of Bartleby and the selfless ones by committed upon him by the people around him. The author uses setting, characterization, and imagery to convey that mankind has lost its humanity.
To fully understand the turn of events, the reader must understand the setting. the author describes the setting in the beginning of

the story to give the reader an understanding of how bad the need to care for one’s self as gotten. The office extended all the way to “The state of New York” ( Melville 1), where it was “upstairs at No. Wall street” (Melville 2). Wall street in New York is known as a place with the goal of making money. With money as the main focus, no one was worried about the needs of the people around them. This is another sign that mankind has lost its humanity, because if everyone is only focused on getting money then there is no happiness in life. Following the same schedule without any inter action with other people makes us not human, but machines. In the office, “ground glass folding doors divided”(Melville 3) the work space into two separate areas. Also to worsen the problem, Melville “procured a high green folding screen, which might entirely isolate Bartley”( Melville 4) from his sight. The office was divided into multiple sections so that there was nothing distracting the workers from making money. Separating the office was the biggest mistake the author could have done. Not only did this setting block all interactions with people it also was the reason that Bartleby gave up on life to begin with. To make matters worse, the only other view for Bartleby was a window that had “an unobstructed view of a lofty brick walls” (Melville 5). Giving him a view of 4 walls was proof that there’s no hope for human kind due to the loss of humanity. Separating the office into sections is like putting the employees into a cadge.
The authors use of characterization also shows the loss of humanity.

Throughout the story Bartleby character changes dramatically. In the beginning Bartleby is full of life, the author describes him as “respectable”(Melville 6), and is glad to have him in the office. As the story progresses Bartlebys character changes dramatically over time. Being in a confined area, without any friendly human interaction caused bartleby to enter a rebellious stage. He did his work “silently, palely”(Melville 7) and “mechanically” ( Melville 8). This should have been the first sign to the author that something was wrong with him. Therefor ignoring him shows the loss of humanity, because he did not try to help him when he first started seeing flaws in this character. When Melville first asks Bartleby to examine documents, he replies with “I would prefer not to”(Melville 9). The author noted the verbal refusal coming from bartleby as strange, yet decided to forget the matter. The rebellious character did not eat, and eventually “for long periods”(Melville 10) “would stand looking out, at his pale window”(Melville 11). Bartleby had given up working, because the author was oblivious to his efforts, which lead bartleby to give up on life. Although he showed many signs, no one in the story attempted to show the slightest sign of

humanity.
Melville also use imagery to further imply the loss of humanity.

One morning the author returned to his office on main street to find the door locked. When bartleby eventually opened the door the author described him and his clothes “strangely tattered”(Melville 12) and “dish ample” ( Melville 13). After further inspecting the office the author discovered “a blanket”(Melville 14) rolled away under his desk, and an old sofa head the “faint impress of a lean reclining form”(Melville 15). the use of imagery concluded that bartleby was indeed living in the office, yet he still didn’t receive any help. Instead of lending a hand, the author decided to just move offices and leave bartleby all alone, knowing he needs help. the vivid imagery given to readers by the author proves that there is a dramatic loss of humanity, because even though he visibly saw that bartleby was struggling he still didn’t care about bartleby sickness, and moved for business

(money).
Bartleby had a different way of viewing things, unlike the people around him, he prefers human interaction over living to just make money. The writer didn’t realize his mistake until after bartleby died. The use of imagery, description of setting, and characterization shows the loss of humanity through the bibliography by actin with selflessness and not caring for others.