Bartleby and Civil Disobedience

A detailed Summary of Bartleby and Civil Disobedience


The extremely simplified definition of civil disobedience given by Webster's Dictionary is "nonviolent opposition to a law through refusal to comply with it, on grounds of conscience."

Thoreau in "Civil Disobedience" and Martin Luther King in "Letter from Birmingham Jail" both argue that laws thought of as unjust in one's mind should not be adhered to. In Herman Melville's "Bartleby," a man named Bartleby is thought of by many to be practicing civil disobedience. His actions are nonviolent, and he refuses to comply with anything his boss says. But his behavior has nothing to do with morals. Bartleby is merely a lonely guy who does not wish to work and has nothing to do with civil disobedience.

Thoreau says that if injustice "is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then I say break the law" (Jacobus 134). He


Even if an unjust act were placed against Bartleby, he would not have had any cares about the injustice. He was a man who needed a place to live and chose to be a law-copyist. He has no desire to do any work and no desire to interact with other humans. Anytime an order was given, the same response would reply from Bartleby's mouth: "I would prefer not to" (Melville). Bartleby did not weigh the issues of morality and immorality in his assignments. He just does not want to deal with others. When asked to look over some work with Turkey and Nipping, he refuses. His boss offers him a home, and he refuses this as well. The ending footnote to "Bartleby" states that Bartleby's previous profession was a subordinate clerk in the Dead Letters Office in Washington. The dead letters he handled had no association to any living person. Bartleby was accustomed t

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Approximate Word count = 580
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

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