Who is bartleby in bartleby the scrivener

But that's the point of Bartleby's stance: he prefers to do as he chooses, even if it kills him. Parents Home Homeschool College Resources. Study Guide. By Herman Melville. Previous Next. Bartleby Bartleby is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma — and, much to some readers' frustration, this conundrum goes unsolved at the end of the story.

What's Up With the Ending? Tired of ads? The first is Turkey, a man who is about the same age as the Lawyer around sixty. Turkey has been causing problems lately. He is an excellent scrivener in the morning, but as the day wears on—particularly in the afternoon—he becomes more prone to making mistakes, dropping ink plots on the copies he writes.

He also becomes more flushed, with an ill temper, in the afternoon. The Lawyer tries to help both himself and Turkey by asking Turkey only to work in the mornings, but Turkey argues with him, so the Lawyer simply gives him less important documents in the afternoon. The second worker is Nippers, who is much younger and more ambitious than Turkey. At twenty-five years old, he is a comical opposite to Turkey, because he has trouble working in the morning.

Until lunchtime, he suffers from stomach trouble, and constantly adjusts the height of the legs on his desk, trying to get them perfectly balanced. In the afternoons, he is calmer and works steadily. The last employee—not a scrivener, but an errand-boy—is Ginger Nut. His nickname comes from the fact that Turkey and Nippers often send him to pick up ginger nut cakes for them.

The lawyer, who discovers that Bartleby lives at the law office, gives him time to recover from eye strain, then tries to fire the recalcitrant employee. Bartleby refuses to leave. A second stratagem, moving to another office and leaving Bartleby behind, results in outrage from the new tenants, who charge the lawyer with responsibility for Bartleby's eccentricities. After fleeing the scene for several days, the lawyer returns and learns that Bartleby has been arrested for vagrancy and taken to the Tombs.

Still driven by a compassionate urge, the lawyer visits Bartleby and finds him free to roam the grassy yard, but confining himself to the study of a wall. On a subsequent visit, the lawyer observes Bartleby's huddled form lying dead at the base of a wall.