He might have occasionally read these letters and became more sensitive or senseless to the conception of life and death. Such occupation might have profoundly affected Bartleby’s perception of life and death. His responsibility at this job was to burn the letters sent to dead or vanished people.
At the end of the story, the author presents the information that Bartleby previously worked at the Dead Letters Office until it was closed for administrative reasons (Melville para. Previous Traumatic Job ExperienceĪ more profound source of Bartleby’s attitude toward life might be based on his previous job. Therefore, Bartleby’s suffering with depression caused by his unwillingness to live is the first source of his downward spiral. Hence, his seemingly outrageous behavior indicates that he had no will to live he did not see any purpose in any activity, which is the common symptom of clinical depression. He stops working simply because he “decided upon no more writing” (Melville para. Not only does he not eat properly, consuming only ginger nuts, but he also does not go out, lives in the office, and does not seek out any sources of happiness (Melville para 32, 46). He does not aspire to live as an ordinary person. Specifically, his passive-aggressive behavior reveals his utter carelessness towards the world surrounding him, including his words, “I would prefer not to.” (Melville para. However, his unwillingness can be considered part of the behavior that broadly indicates his suffering from depression or schizophrenia. The eventual point to which Bartleby reaches is his death caused by his improper eating habits. Bartleby goes into a downward spiral of life-based on his traumatic job experience and the environment in his new occupation, resulting in the depression he manifested in his actions and words.
This character’s uniqueness is based on his extraordinary life and unpredictable and seemingly incomprehensible behavior. Even after decades since its publication, the narrative is still widely debated among literary critics and scholars analyzing the unique nature of the main character, Bartleby. In the short story, Bartleby, The Scrivener: The Story of Wall Street, Herman Melville (1853) offers a glimpse into the life of one of the scriveners, Bartleby.
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