Although many believe Bartelby the Scrivener is a satire criticizing transcendentalism, mainly Thoreau, the story is actually Melville’s attempt at showing how society is capable of turning everyone into a character similar to that of Bartelby.
Melville was frequently being told to abandon his personal style of writing for a more popular method that would be more accepted. Throughout Herman Melville’s career as an author, he was told “People would admit him to their circle and give him bread and employment only if he would abandon his inner purpose” (Oliver 62). The author, just like Bartelby “preferred not to” abandon his style and intern to society’s objective responses shut himself more and more out of the world just as Bartelby chose to do when the world questioned his actions.
The lawyer blames Bartelby’s death on his position previously in a “dead letters” office signifying the unpopular books in Melville’s life. The lawyer states “pardon for those who died despairing; hope for those who died unhoping; good tidings for those who died stifled by unrelieved calamities…Ah Bartelby! Ah humanity” (Melville 42)! The character of Bartelby and Melville himself told the world “ they prefer not to” follow what the world thinks would be a good idea but instead follow their own hearts which in turn led to their demise.
Melville is relating to the world by using a parallel figure of himself in Bartelby that everyone is capable of becoming hopeless and despaired when the world does not allow people to be free and true to themselves.
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