What happens in Introduction & Arrival of Bartleby of Bartleby, the Scrivener?
The unnamed narrator—a mild-mannered Wall Street lawyer who takes pride in his orderly, uneventful life—introduces his small law office and its current staff: the unpredictable Turkey, the grumpy Nippers, and the errand boy Ginger Nut. As the workload grows, he places an ad for a scrivener and hires Bartleby, a pale, tidy young man who is unnaturally quiet and comes without any references or background. The lawyer sets Bartleby up in a corner of the office, shielded by a folding green partition, and near a window that offers only a view of a blank brick wall. At first, Bartleby copies with astonishing, mechanical diligence—working silently, day and night, as if he were desperate for something to occupy his time. The chapter ends before any refusal arises, presenting Bartleby solely as a figure of diligent, almost ghostly productivity.
Analysis
Melville starts with a narrator who, importantly, is an unreliable guide. The lawyer describes himself as "one of those unambitious lawyers who never addresses a jury," and there's a smugness in his tone that instantly brings irony into play; his sense of ease stems from a passive stance, and Bartleby will soon reflect this dark side. The office layout is loaded with symbolism right from the beginning: walls are everywhere, a window leads only to another wall, and a green screen both hides and frames Bartleby like a specimen. While green typically symbolizes life, here it represents confinement and stagnation.
In the early descriptions of Turkey and Nippers, Melville's prose adopts a comic and wandering rhythm—almost reminiscent of Dickens—which makes the shift in tone when Bartleby appears feel even more jarring. The humor disappears from the sentences. Bartleby is introduced through negative traits: "pallidly neat, pitiably respectable, incurably forlorn." This triple adverb construction vividly conveys the exhaustion it describes.
The theme of copying—reproduction without original thought—emerges as the story's main metaphor. Initially, Bartleby copies eagerly, but even then, the act feels empty: he works facing a wall, creating text that the narrative never quotes. What he copies is less important than the compulsive, joyless act itself, hinting at the existential paralysis that lies ahead. The lawyer's pleasure in his new employee's productivity marks the last time either man will experience uncomplicated comfort.
Key quotes from Introduction & Arrival of Bartleby
“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.”
The narrator opens the story by characterizing himself, establishing the complacent philosophy that Bartleby's presence will systematically dismantle.
“I placed his desk close up to a small side-window in that part of the room — a window which originally had afforded a lateral view of certain grimy back-yards and bricks, but which, owing to subsequent erections, commanded at present no view at all, though it gave some light.”
The lawyer describes Bartleby's assigned workspace, embedding the story's central symbol — the blank wall — into the physical architecture of the office from the very start.
“As if long famishing for something to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my documents.”
The narrator observes Bartleby's initial, almost desperate industry, a simile that frames copying as consumption and quietly foreshadows the starvation — literal and spiritual — that will define Bartleby's end.
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Create an accountSign inVocabulary in Introduction & Arrival of Bartleby
- scrivener
- A person employed to copy legal documents and letters by hand before the age of typewriters; a professional copyist working in a law office.
- snug
- Comfortably sheltered and well-organized; here describing a cozy, well-established professional situation.
- masterly
- Done with great skill and confident authority, in a way that shows complete command of one's work or position.
- prudence
- Careful, cautious good judgment that avoids unnecessary risk or conflict, especially in business or social dealings.
- unobtrusive
- Not drawing attention to oneself; quiet and inconspicuous in manner or appearance.
- Turkey
- The nickname of one of the narrator's copyist clerks, an older man whose work deteriorates notably in the afternoons.
- nippers
- The nickname of another copyist clerk, a younger, irritable man whose nervous energy makes him grind his teeth and fidget at his desk.
- ground-glass folding-doors
- Interior partitions made of frosted or etched glass set in hinged panels, used to divide office space while still allowing some light to pass through.
- copyist
- A clerk whose job is to make exact handwritten copies of legal documents, contracts, and correspondence.
- pallid
- Unusually pale in complexion, suggesting poor health, lack of sunlight, or emotional emptiness.
- imprimis
- A Latin legal term meaning 'in the first place' or 'first of all,' used to introduce the opening item in a formal list or statement.