Bartleby, the Scrivener Summary

Bartleby, the Scrivener is a short story and is not divided into chapters. It is a single continuous narrative told by the lawyer, moving through clear stages:

• The office: The narrator introduces his law office and his other employees, Turkey, Nippers, and Ginger Nut.
• Bartleby arrives: The new scrivener is hired and at first works hard.
• The refusals: Bartleby begins to say "I would prefer not to" and does less and less.
• Escalation: Bartleby stops working entirely and refuses to leave.
• The end: The narrator's attempts to deal with him, and Bartleby's fate.

The story's tight focus intensifies its unsettling, mysterious effect.

This summary of Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville is narrated by an elderly, comfortable Wall Street lawyer who describes himself as a safe, unambitious man. His office employs two scriveners (legal copyists) with the nicknames Turkey and Nippers, and an errand boy called Ginger Nut. Needing more help, the lawyer hires a new scrivener named Bartleby, a pale, quiet, respectable-looking man.

At first, Bartleby works with remarkable diligence, copying documents day and night. But when the lawyer asks him to help examine a copy, Bartleby responds with the now-famous line, "I would prefer not to." The lawyer is stunned, and over the following days Bartleby repeats this phrase in reply to more and more requests, all delivered in a calm, mild, unmovable manner.

As this Bartleby the Scrivener book summary shows, Bartleby gradually does less and less work, and eventually stops copying altogether, simply standing and staring at the wall. The lawyer discovers that Bartleby has apparently been living in the office, with no home and no connections. Baffled and strangely moved, the lawyer feels a mix of frustration, pity, and moral responsibility, unable to bring himself to forcibly remove the strange, harmless man.

Bartleby's passive refusals paralyze the office and unsettle the narrator, who tries various approaches, reasoning, charity, and even offering money, none of which move Bartleby. Because he cannot make Bartleby leave and cannot bring himself to use force, the lawyer eventually takes the drastic step of moving his entire practice to a new office to escape him.

Even then, Bartleby remains behind, refusing to leave the old premises, until the new tenants and the building's landlord are forced to deal with him, setting up the story's somber conclusion.

Bartleby, the Scrivener ends with Bartleby's death and a final, poignant revelation. After the lawyer moves offices to escape him, Bartleby stubbornly remains in the old building. The new occupants, unable to get him to leave, eventually have him arrested for vagrancy, and he is taken to the Tombs, the New York City prison.

The guilt-ridden lawyer visits Bartleby in prison and even arranges for him to be given good food, but Bartleby, true to his nature, "prefers not to" eat. He turns his face to the prison wall and quietly wastes away, and on a later visit the lawyer finds that Bartleby has died, curled at the base of the wall as if asleep.

In the story's famous closing passage, the narrator shares a rumor that Bartleby had once worked in the Dead Letter Office, handling undeliverable mail, letters that never reached the living people they were meant for. As this summary of Bartleby the Scrivener shows, the lawyer ends with the mournful exclamation, "Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!" tying Bartleby's isolation and despair to the human condition itself.

Here are some famous verbatim quotes from Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville. They capture the story's themes of passive resistance, isolation, and compassion:

"I would prefer not to."

"I am not particular."

"Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!"

"For the first time in my life a feeling of overpowering stinging melancholy seized me."

These Bartleby the Scrivener quotes show how Herman Melville turns a simple phrase into an unforgettable statement about the human condition.