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Character analysis

Nippers

in Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville

Nippers is one of the two experienced scribes working for the Narrator in his Wall Street law office, primarily serving as a comic foil while also highlighting Melville's satire of office life and social ambition. He is presented as a young man of around twenty-five, struggling with two chronic issues: indigestion, which makes him irritable in the mornings and calmer in the afternoons, and an overwhelming professional ambition that leads him to dabble in politics and attract suspicious visitors, hinting at some shady side dealings. His most notable physical quirk is his constant struggle to find the right height for his writing desk—he obsessively adjusts it with bricks, blocks, and lids, yet never manages to settle into a comfortable position, a detail Melville uses to illustrate his inner restlessness and dissatisfaction with his situation.

Nippers serves as the opposite of his colleague Turkey: while Turkey is pleasant in the mornings but erratic after lunch, Nippers is grumpy before noon and productive in the afternoons, making their dysfunctions conveniently balance each other out—a comic setup the Narrator uses to justify keeping both of them employed. Unlike Turkey, Nippers has real social aspirations; he dresses well and resents being just a copyist. His character arc is largely static—he doesn’t experience any significant change—but his presence enhances the story's depiction of the dehumanizing nature of clerical work. He also implicitly contrasts with Bartleby: while Nippers channels his frustration into ambition and irritability, Bartleby's resistance is both absolute and silent.

About this character

Form
Short story
Author
Herman Melville
First published
1853

The person01–03

01·Who they are

Who is Nippers?

Nippers is one of the Narrator's two established scriveners in his Wall Street law office, introduced early in the story as a young man of around twenty-five. Melville sketches him with deliberate comic economy: he is ambitious, irritable, and constitutionally unable to sit still. His signature physical struggle — endlessly adjusting his writing desk with bricks, blocks of wood, and lid props in search of an ergonomic ideal he never reaches — functions as Melville's shorthand for a man permanently at odds with his circumstances. Beyond the office, Nippers cultivates a certain air of respectability, dressing well and receiving visits from dubious figures described as "duns" and clients, hinting at side dealings and political dabbling that sit awkwardly with his position as a mere copyist. He resents that position, and the resentment shows.

02·Arc & motivation

What is Nippers's arc and motivation?

Nippers has no arc in any conventional sense — he enters the story restless and exits it the same way. His motivation, however, is legible and consistent: he wants more than Wall Street clerical work will give him. The desk adjustments are not simply a physical tic but an enactment of that dissatisfaction, a man physically unable to accommodate himself to the station he occupies. His professional ambition manifests in his grooming, his outside contacts, and a barely suppressed irritability that the Narrator diplomatically attributes to indigestion. Melville's point is quietly satirical: the system produces men like Nippers — capable, status-hungry, and trapped — and then medicalises their frustration as a digestive complaint rather than a structural grievance.

03·Key moments

What are Nippers's key moments?

The most sustained attention Nippers receives comes in his introductory passage, where the Narrator catalogs his two "chronic infirmities" — ambition and indigestion — and describes the desk-adjustment ritual in affectionate detail. This scene is the story's primary vehicle for establishing him. Equally important is the Narrator's observation that Nippers's dysfunction operates on a precise daily schedule: mornings are marked by irritability and desk-fussing, afternoons by relative calm and useful productivity. The Narrator's deadpan note that he could never make up his mind whether Nippers was the victim of "two evil powers — ambition and indigestion" neatly encapsulates Melville's satirical method of reducing social discontent to bodily complaint.

The cast04–05

04·Relationships

What are Nippers's most important relationships?

With the Narrator: The Narrator regards Nippers with tolerant, slightly condescending amusement. He catalogues Nippers's pretensions — the well-cut coat, the suspicious visitors, the political dabbling — without moral judgement, treating them as manageable eccentricities. Crucially, the Narrator's patience rests on utility: Nippers's afternoons are productive, and that productivity purchases the Narrator's indulgence. The relationship is transactional beneath its veneer of paternal good humour.

With Turkey: Turkey is Nippers's structural mirror. Where Nippers is unworkable before noon and functional afterward, Turkey is amiable in the morning and erratic in the afternoon. The Narrator explicitly frames this complementary dysfunction as a convenient arrangement — one man's uselessness offsets the other's, and together they constitute one reliable scrivener spread across the working day. Melville uses the pairing as sustained workplace comedy, but also as a quiet indictment of an office culture that accommodates human breakdown only when it fits a schedule.

With Bartleby: The contrast is thematic rather than interpersonal. Nippers channels his dissatisfaction outward — in irritability, ambition, and constant physical restlessness. Bartleby turns his inward, into absolute, wordless refusal. Nippers wants more than the office offers; Bartleby eventually wants nothing at all. Their minimal direct interaction makes the opposition more pointed: these are two possible responses to the same dehumanising environment, and the story implicitly asks which is the more honest one.

With Ginger Nut: Their relationship is purely functional — errand boy and scrivener, hierarchy maintained without warmth or complexity. Ginger Nut's presence mainly underlines the layered economy of the office.

05·Connected characters

How is Nippers connected to the other characters?

The Narrator (The Lawyer)

Nippers is employed by the Narrator, who tolerates his morning irritability and desk-adjusting eccentricities because his afternoons are productive. The Narrator views him with bemused condescension, noting his social pretensions while finding his predictable dysfunction a manageable inconvenience compared to Bartleby's total passivity.

Turkey

Turkey is Nippers's office counterpart and comic mirror image. Their dysfunctions operate on opposite schedules—Nippers is disagreeable in the morning, Turkey in the afternoon—creating a running joke that the Narrator uses to rationalize keeping both men. They share little direct interaction but define each other structurally.

Bartleby

Bartleby's passive, absolute refusal to work stands in sharp thematic contrast to Nippers's restless ambition and irritable energy. Nippers represents dissatisfaction expressed outwardly; Bartleby represents dissatisfaction turned inward into silence. Nippers has minimal direct engagement with Bartleby, but the two characters illuminate each other by opposition.

Ginger Nut

Ginger Nut is the office errand boy who serves the scriveners, including Nippers. Nippers occasionally sends him for snacks, and the two share the mundane rhythms of office life, though their relationship is purely functional and hierarchical.

Study06–07

06·Questions

Questions readers ask about Nippers

Who is Nippers in "Bartleby, the Scrivener"?

Nippers is one of the two experienced scriveners employed by the Narrator in his Wall Street law office, depicted as a young man of around twenty-five. Melville sketches him as ambitious, perpetually irritable before noon, and constitutionally unable to settle — most memorably illustrated by his obsessive attempts to find the perfect height for his writing desk using bricks, blocks, and lids.

What is Nippers's relationship with Turkey?

Turkey serves as Nippers's structural comic mirror in the office. Their dysfunctions operate on opposite schedules — Nippers is disagreeable and restless in the mornings but productive in the afternoons, while Turkey is amiable before noon and erratic after lunch. The Narrator exploits this complementary breakdown as a rationale for keeping both men employed, noting they represent roughly one reliable scrivener spread across the working day.

Why does Nippers constantly adjust his writing desk?

Nippers adjusts his desk using bricks, blocks of wood, and lid props because he can never find a comfortable working height — but Melville uses this ritual as a metaphor for his deeper inability to accommodate himself to his lowly station as a copyist. His physical restlessness externalises his social dissatisfaction: a man who desires more than clerical work can offer, permanently at odds with his circumstances.

What are Nippers's two "chronic infirmities" according to the Narrator?

The Narrator identifies Nippers's two chronic infirmities as ambition and indigestion. Melville's satire lies in the Narrator's deadpan decision to frame Nippers's social discontent as a digestive complaint rather than a structural grievance — medicalising what is really a frustrated desire for status and respectability within a system that offers him little room to rise.

How does Nippers show his social ambitions in the story?

Nippers signals his aspirations through well-cut clothes, his dabbling in politics, and the dubious visitors — described as "duns" and clients — who call on him at the office, hinting at shady side dealings. He openly resents being regarded as a mere copyist, and the Narrator catalogs these pretensions with tolerant, condescending amusement, treating them as manageable eccentricities rather than legitimate grievances.

How does Nippers contrast with Bartleby?

Nippers and Bartleby represent two opposite responses to the dehumanising routine of clerical work. Nippers channels his dissatisfaction outward — into irritability, physical restlessness, and social ambition. Bartleby turns his inward, into absolute and wordless refusal. Their direct interaction is minimal, but the opposition is thematic: Melville implicitly invites readers to ask which form of resistance to an oppressive environment is the more honest.

Does Nippers undergo any change or character arc in the story?

Nippers has no meaningful character arc — he enters the story restless and dissatisfied and exits in the same state. His role is largely static, functioning as a comic foil and a vehicle for Melville's satire of office culture and the myth of social mobility. His significance lies not in personal transformation but in what his trapped ambition and predictable dysfunction reveal about Wall Street's treatment of its clerical workers.

How does the Narrator feel about Nippers?

The Narrator regards Nippers with tolerant, slightly condescending amusement, seeing his social pretensions and morning irritability as manageable inconveniences rather than serious problems. Beneath the veneer of paternal good humour, however, the relationship is transactional: the Narrator's patience is purchased by Nippers's productive afternoons, and his eccentricities are indulged precisely because they fit a predictable schedule — unlike Bartleby's total, unmanageable passivity.

07·Essay angles

Use this in your essay

Tool · Essay angles

  • Nippers as satire of social mobility: How does Melville use Nippers's ambitions, dress, and outside dealings to satirise the myth of self-improvement within a rigid economic system?

  • The body as social complaint: Analyse how the story medicalises Nippers's discontent (indigestion, restlessness) rather than politicising it

    what does this suggest about how the Narrator, and Wall Street culture more broadly, manages employee frustration?

  • The desk as symbol: To what extent does Nippers's inability to find a comfortable desk height function as an extended metaphor for the impossibility of finding dignity within clerical labour?

  • Nippers and Bartleby as divergent resistances: Compare how Nippers and Bartleby each respond to institutional constraint

    active irritability versus passive refusal — and argue which Melville presents as the more subversive stance.

  • Comic foil or social critique? Evaluate whether Nippers ultimately serves a purely comic function or whether his characterisation constitutes a serious indictment of Wall Street's treatment of its workers.

Bartleby, the Scrivener

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