Blog Post #1 , Topic 2

Jon Xie

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Blog Post #1

Argue for or against this statement: Bartleby’s behavior is a reasonable response to his circumstances.

While I certainly sympathize with Bartleby and his dehumanized condition, I personally believe that his behavior is not justifiable. Depression and mental illness may have profound effects on the individual, but allowing it to greatly disrupt the productivity and lives around him or her is unreasonable.

Fired from his previous clerkship at the Dead Letter Office, Bartleby finds new work as a scrivener under the lawyer of our story. His output as a copier is enormous initially, but he quickly finds himself slowly losing his mind to the monotony and routine of his new job. The feeling of being “another cog in the machine” drives Bartleby to an overwhelming sense of apathy. His signature phrase,“ I would prefer not to”, becomes his way of expressing this. He gradually becomes less productive and rejects the orders of his boss, who worries and shows concern for him to a certain extent. His refusal to leave the office forces the lawyer to completely move his unit to a new building. He eventually is thrown into a prison called the tombs where he succumbs to starvation. His old boss finds him cold to the touch and laments the inhumanity of the poor scrivener’s life.

            Much like today’s society, there is a certain expectation of productivity in the lawyer’s workplace. While it might be incoherent to base Bartleby’s behavior by modern standards, I think it is safe to say that Bartleby overstepped his boundaries as an employee to the point where he became extremely unaccountable. His boss asked him to perform small tasks, and he repeatedly rejected these advances. The fact that he was sleeping in the office for a week also suggests that he simply does not care about company policy and etiquette. There is much to be said about the mental state of Bartleby and his circumstances, but from my perspective of the reading, he seems like the equivalent of a modern day employee working an unfulfilling desk job that he does not find purpose in. Would it be reasonable or justifiable if someone in today’s society acted like this just because they felt depressed? It certainly seems like it wouldn’t be. I would think that the Bartleby equivalent would have been fired immediately without nearly as much consideration from his boss in today’s world.

Melville’s commentary of the archetypal workingman through Bartleby still provides an outlook that is applicable towards modern day society. His behavior is certainly understandable, as depression can cause individuals within society to act in very self-destructive ways. However, I believe that a depressed individual like Bartleby does not have the right to act the way he did in the workplace because it begins to greatly affect those around him in a negative manner. Forcing the lawyer to completely move his office across town was perhaps the greatest effect of his behavior. I wholeheartedly emphasize with Bartleby, but depression is not a justifiable reason for causing trouble in society.