Bartleby, the scrivener: a story of wall street is written by Herman Melville. Here, the narrator of the story is a lawyer who works on wall street. The story is not simple and at times becomes confusing about what is the main point or message of the story. At some time, it seems that it is the self-serving story of the narrator who is a lawyer. And other times, it looks like the writer wants to convey something deep and crucial. If analyzed in-depth, it can be seen that the narrator is a virtuous persona and conveys a deep message. The story is not a self-serving text, rather it contains a deep message.
Firstly, the story conveys a work environment that is engendered due to the modern capitalist economy. Here the main point of the narrator is that the work environment exacts a heavy toll on the workers. the authors want to convey a point that such an environment is filled with material values. In detail, the narrator wants to convey a point about how the capitalist system has changed the working place and pushed human beings in an unending race to satisfy their unending desires. So, what is the result of this environment? The result is that human beings become machines who are deprived of feelings and emotions. As a result, it shows that there is a weak relationship between employers and employees. Due to a weak relationship, the general empathy that should be developed between the two is absent. Due to the absence of compassion and empathy, the employer overlooks the concerns of the workers and pays no heed to its need. In short, a materialist world overwhelms important human emotions and relations.
Considering this is the main point of the story, now it can be argued that the narrator is a good person or his story is self-serving. The story is self-serving because it hides what can be said about the class conflict that was at play in the office. It represented an employer and worker engaged in class conflict. There was a class difference between the two and the boss has a condescending attitude towards the worker. For example, at one instance in the story, he mocked his employee that he was not hoping that a worker could afford a coat. So, an attitude such as this was clearly a reflection of the capitalist mindset that tends to create disparities and adopt a high patronizing attitude towards their employers. So, if the narrator was a good person, he should not have adopted such behavior towards the workers. an empathic behavior does not mock someone for their outlooks or dresses. This kind was likely to engender provocation and alienation among workers. Besides this, there are chances that such a condescending attitude leads to mental health problems for the workers.
Moreover, it also reflects how lust and greed for profit heavily exploit workers, which is also one of the key tenets of the materialistic capitalistic economic system. The motivation to accumulate as much profit as he can work against the humanistic considerations. In his lust for profit, he adopts apathetic behavior to all other moral and humanistic considerations. As a result, labor and workers are overburdened and made to toil in hard conditions. This was the case particularly with the onset of the industrial revolution which triggered outrage against capitalism. In any case, the characteristic inclination for benefit permits entrepreneurs to sabotage the specialist's privileges. For example, associations are restricted and compensation is cut. In this viewpoint of private enterprise without government oversight to guarantee that privileges of the lowest pay permitted by law or solid working conditions are defended, the entrepreneur's financial framework unquestionably expects the state of a savage human who is quick to eat up everyone. Here, the same happens with workers especially Barttebly who were overburdened with work to fulfill the satisfaction of their bosses. They just focus on their interests rather than looking at the well-being and interests of the worker.
The story passes on profound importance of themselves and gives the place of what diverse social conditions mean for man's perspectives and their primary points and objectives. Bartleby is a helpless man who has no accessibility of freedom to get abundance and change his fortunes while the attorney is a rich man and has no worry in regards to his monetary conditionsThis points to the fact that different conditions impact aims and endeavors in life. For instance, Bartleby's primary aim is to get wealth irrespective of whatever challenges he has to confront. On the other hand, the layer is wealthy and has a different lifestyle and concern. He faces no challenges to get rich and change his fortunes. Instead, he aims to live a happy life and fulfill her satisfactions. So, an in-depth analysis of the stores shows how different socio-economic conditions determine the trajectory of a personās life. Here, the lawyer, who is rich, initially paid no heed to the needs of his workers and their financial status. Rather, he is submerged by his self-interests and is keen to pursue them. He has no concern that his workers may be suffering problems in their life and they may need his support. Again, the thirst for materialism bars him from doing so. As a result, there is no strong relation between the boss and his employee. What happens? The workers are estranged from their bosses which does not inspire them to work in a manner that can be more constructive and productive.
So, what is the result of the apathy shown by the boss? It can be said that the workers engaged in a mode of passive resistance. It can be seen in the story that Bartleby started to rebel in a passive manner and refuses to do work in the direction of his boss. Here, the narrator tries to depict himself as a very caring and kind boss who overlooks this passive resistance of his employee. The narrator, in this part of the story, gives the message that he was a very kind and compassionate boss who was very friendly with his employees. But, the point is this does not make him a kind person. In this part of the story, the self-serving context of the story becomes more conspicuous because the narrator tries to portray that he, indeed, was caring and showing concern for his employee. What he did not mention and failed to hide that it was his behavior that at first spurred provocation and resentment among his workers. his autocratic style of ruling and mocking his workers forced Bartley to engage in resistance and refuse to do work.
At this juncture, the story also conveys that a relationship devoid of emotions and empathy works for the disadvantages of both. If a boss has shown concern for his employee, it would have led to motivation among employees to also do the work of their boss with hard work and honesty. Another factor that showed that tory was self-serving was the absence of freedom available to the workers. The walls of the story and at the end the death of Bartleby in prison also symbolize the non-extension of freedom to workers. Here, the main points are how employers are bound by their employees who limit their freedom. They have no will of their own. instead, they have to work on the directions of someone else. Due to the regular exploitation of workers by their employers, they tend to feel that they are deprived of basic human freedom . In the story, Bartleby also feels the same. The narrator tries to show that he is kind and sympathetic. But this does not happen in a reality where the worker is caught in loss of freedom and liberty due to the brutal mechanism on which the capitalist economic system works. The onset of the work deprived Bartley of the other leisures and relations in life that are so important. As his freedom and liberty are further constrained due to working for his modern economic system, he becomes depressed and isolated. He finds himself in a state of strange dilemma where he is not able to be free but is not able to live that freedom. He was bound by something and this shows that he became increasingly isolated and depressed. Such a state of affair caught a dismal shadow over him and the last thing he could do was to engage in passive resistance.
The story of the narrator is self-serving which hides and conceals his role in the death of Bartleby. He tries to show himself king but he overlooks the deep factors that were at play in alienating his workers and limiting their freedom. In fact, the plot of the story in the wall street journal was a symbol of capitalism's brute ignorance of the employees.
References:- āBartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-street.ā
- āBartleby The Scrivener, A Tale Of Wall Street.ā