"Bartleby, the Scrivener"

Herman Melville describes a number of factors that can contribute to the growth of alienation in his short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” and this is best seen through the indirect characterization of the Lawyer. Although the Lawyer is the narrator of the story, he actually offers very little personal information about himself. For example, the reader never learns the Lawyer’s name, family situation, etc., and he makes no effort to acquaint the reader with the personal aspects of his life. The one intuitive piece of information which the Lawyer offers about himself is the fact that he was “a man who from his youth upwards has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best” (Melville, 642). By considering this statement along with analyzing the Lawyer’s thoughts and actions throughout the book, the reader quickly discovers that the Lawyer himself was not so different than Bartleby. Bartleby was the victim to an incurable case of passivity and unending acceptance. Because of this, Bartleby appears to be the constant victim of unhappiness and dullness. In a similar fashion, the reader learns directly through indirect characterization that the Lawyer tends to accept every set of circumstances thrown in his path without questioning or challenging it. ]

Like Bartleby, the Lawyer is eventually depicted as being very similar to Bartleby in fact that both men lacked ambition and drive and instead left all their happiness to rest of the stoic behavior of others. In this regard, “Bartleby, the Scrivener” draws many correlations to the story “The Lottery.” In both “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” both Bartleby and the Lawyer create relatively dull lives for themselves simply because they lake the ambition to question their current lifestyle to take any action of alter it. Likewise, in “The Lottery,” no villagers ventured to abolish the practice of the lottery despite its harmful impact on the community simply because challenging the validity of the practice took more courage and energy than anyone seemed willing to put forth. Ultimately, therefore, the reader discovers through the stoic mannerisms of the Lawyer revealed through indirect characterization that passivity can be one of the single greatest factors contributing to isolation from society.