Ah, Bartleby!

"Dead letters! does it not sound like dead men? Conceive a man by nature and misfortune prone to a pallid hopelessness, can any business seem more fitted to heighten it than that of continually handling these dead letters and assorting them for the flames?" -"Bartleby the Scrivener"

     The above quote is one of the main reasons this story irritated me so much. Not only was it an improper use of time to read about a man who says the same thing repeatedly, but no plot details or other characters add to understanding the character Bartleby. I guess I could see how being employed by the government and sorting unreceived mail containing sentimental life objects could be numbing and depressing, but what would posess a man never to speak, carry out a job, find normal living conditions, or generally have no reason for why he does the same things? I was hoping for some resolution and worthwhile hint into Bartleby's motivation but all I read was how he would prefer not to do anything. The only valuable conclusion I could come up with concerns the narrator (lawyer)'s treatment of Bartleby. He works on Wall Street, which is unsympathetic and results-driven. Maybe Bartleby's actions come as a fascination to him because he is so out of place on Wall Street, and the way he handles any situation, a preference not to act, seems to be quite effective. Perhaps to the narrator, Bartleby is a symbol of freedom in the results-driven world that he lives in, despite the fact that Bartleby could care less about freedom at all. Maybe I could have had more sympathy for Bartleby if I had even the slightest indication of his motivation, whether it be by fault of his own or the fault of others.