Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-street

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   “Imprimis: I am a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best.”(3) This is a statement made by the narrator early on in the story. By trying to live his life without confrontation, without being the center of attention, and by placing himself within an occupation without much chance of anything invading his peace, the narrator ironically lives a life that is completely the opposite of what he desires. This is a form of situational irony. Most of the turmoil in his life is caused by his mindset of not wanting any disruption.  

                          The narrator is owner of a scrivener office with four employees. One of his employees is given the nickname Turkey. This individual is a good worker for the first half of the day. But by the afternoon he is drunk and unable to perform his duties. The narrator would like to fire this employee and replace him with a more productive employee. To avoid any confrontation and any inconvenience for the employee he allows Turkey to stay, even though he will cause more problems in the long run. Another employee of the narrator goes by the nickname Nippers. A nipper is not very productive during the first half of the day but gets his work done during the second half. It seems as though he may be running some sort of a side business during his working hours at the office. It may or may not be an illegal side business. Again the instead of confronting his employee regarding these model employee deficiencies, he allows them to occur. This is another example his want for the easy way is making his life more problematic. The direst consequences of his aspiration for an easy life comes by the way he manages his relationship with Bartleby.  By allowing Bartleby to continue you to stay without working and not confronting him in an assertive appropriate manner it not only caused much mayhem but may have cost Bartleby his life.

                          By looking for the easy way out in the short term you may be setting yourself up for a much harder situation in the long term.  This attitude can lead to circumstances that have adverse consequences not only for the person looking for the easy way but for other people they are in contact with. It is best to take care of situations as they arise no matter how difficult it may seem. Because what may come of the problem since it was not taken care of appropriately initially it may increase the hardship ten fold. For more information on the life and works of Herman Melville click here.