First, Melville adapts the point of view in the story in 1st person narration, by a lawyer whose name remains anonymous. I believe that the setting needed more description. It was a very vague and bleak description of the office since most of the story took action in it. I thought that it was essential to get a better picture of it. On the other hand, I believe that Melville did this to draw attention to the symbolism and themes of the story rather than to the actual scenery. Also to give the office a more "morbid" and depressing look. The to

ne in the story is exposed by the narrator who is reflecting on his experiences with Bartleby. The tone is one of interest, frustration, regret, and in a way comical. Melville establishes the interest tone reflected at the beginning of the story when the narrator wants to know about Bartlebys life and past; of frustration, when he isn't able to get Bartleby to perform his duties, and when he can't get him to leave the office; of regret, when Bartleby goes to jail and then dies and he regrets not putting more effort in helping him; and I believe Melville injects a comical tone in the scenes in which the narrator asks the advise of his employees, and they react according to the dictates of the time of day. I consider it was comical, because, how could he ask his employees for advise when he knows they act according to the time of the day? The characterization of Bartleby and the narrator were strong, because the image of Bartleby is the symbol of the story and the narrator is moved by Bartleby's actions in a way. Besides Bartleby and the narrator, the rest of the characters are in a way open ended because we can't really picture them as a whole. Their predictable reactions underscore their status as symbols or types rather than realistic characters.

The most famous line in the story was "I would prefer not to". The prefer, however doesn't mean that Bartleby will do it despite his preference. He assumes a polite tone with his boss by using this term and there is also irony in the choice. If he says he "will not" do something, the lawyer can interpret that as misbehavior. I also interpret this as him living his life at his preference not at societies or his bosses. His response "I would prefer not to", shows his lack of involvement and in turn his decision not to interact in society, because he had given up the little he still had.

Given that Bartleby's alienation caused conflict in the story, the next theme would likely be man's desire to avoid conflict. . Bartleby tries to avoid conflict and that's why I believe he uses the word prefer, instead of will not. The narrator

Some common words found in the essay are:
Bartleby Bartleby, Melville Bartleby, Besides Bartleby, Ultimately Bartleby, Ah Humanity, bartleby life, avoid conflict, desire avoid conflict, dead brick wall, man's desire avoid, themes story, living life, leave office, perform duties, throughout story, bartleby narrator, alienate humanity, response prefer,
Approximate Word count = 1407
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)