Week 7 Analysis: Close reading of "Bartleby, the Scrivener"

For my close reading I chose to analyze the middle paragraph on page 307 of "Bartleby, the Scrivener" by Herman Melville. The narrator of the story begins the paragraph by telling readers about another appearance from Bartleby. He describes his "nonchalance" in a peculiar way (Melville, 307). He chooses to describe Bartleby's nonchalance as "cadaverously gentlemanly" (Melville, 307). To use a cadaver as an adverb to describe how gentlemanly his nonchalance was is to say that he was like a corpse in some way. Bartleby isn't very full of life or enthusiasm throughout the story in the way that he's very passive about life, simply preferring not to do things as if he were dead and unable to take action. This also foreshadows Bartleby's fate at the end of the story seeing as how he dies in prison when the narrator goes to visit him. Later in the paragraph, he questions what Bartleby could be doing in his office in his "shirt sleeves, and in an otherwise dismantled condition" (Melville, 307). Again, there is a very specific choice of words being used by the narrator. He refers to Bartleby's condition as being "dismantled" which could be a commentary on both his mental and physical condition. Mentally, Bartleby has been a strange employee in the office that has constantly frustrated and confused the other copyists in the office. They've made fun of his way of speaking in the story by intentionally using the word "prefer" simply for the sake of pointing out how unusual Bartleby is. Bartleby isn't a very opinionated individual and he seems to not put much thought into anything nor does he speak up for himself. He let his vision be impaired by working in dim lighting as opposed to requesting better lighting at his desk or to work next to a window that provides better lighting than the one he worked at. Physically, in addition to the impairment of his vision, he developed a habit of sleeping at the office, as if being dismantled meant he fell apart at work and couldn't be bothered to leave the office to sleep elsewhere. He also refers to Bartleby as an "immoral person" (307). Bartleby isn't necessarily immoral in the sense that he has a cruel or evil nature; he simply doesn't grasp onto society's expectations or norms the way that typical people do. He doesn't leave the office when he's supposed to nor does he cooperate when he's kicked out after the office no longer belongs to the narrator. It's because of his indifference to other people's needs and his inability to understand why certain things are requested and expected of him that he doesn't follow orders well and is seen as being defiant or immoral.


Melville, Herman. "Bartleby, the Scrivener." The Norton Anthology World Literature, edited by Martin Puchner, Third Edition, vol. D, W. W. Norton 2012, pp. 293-325