ALLAN SIl.VER
"Wh y do you refuse?"
" I would prefer no t to."
.. . I began to reason w ith him .
"These are your own cop ies we are about to examin e.
It
is la bor
sav ing to you . .. .
It
is common usage. Every copy ist is bo und to help
examin e his copy . Is it no t so? Will you not spea k? An swer!"
" I prefer no t to," he repli ed in a flute-like ton e.
It
seemed to me
th a t whil e
I
h ad been address ing him , h e carefull y revo lved every
sta tement th at
I
made; full y comp rehended the meaning; could no t
ga insay the irres istibl e concl usion ; but, a t the same time, some
paramount considera tion preva il ed with him to repl y as he did.
411
T he paramount considera tion onl y "seemed" to the lawyer to exist, as
does his account o f Bartl eby's reaction ; whether it does or no t, we
canno t know. Ra ther than seek it, however ingeniously, we do better to
consider the pa lpable terms o f Bartl eby's refu sa l.
It
tells us much . As
the lawyer o bserves, des pa iring o f his a ttempts to understand Bartl eby's
beh avior, Bartl eby is "more a man o f preferences than of assumptions."
The formul a o f refusa l bo th announ ces and aggrava tes the act.
It
in vites inq uiri es, whi ch are themselves refused . H av ing ceased to verify
copy, Bartl eby refuses to go to the p os t offi ce, " but a three minute
wa lk " :
" I
wou ld prefer no t to ."
"You
will
not?"
" I
prefer
not. "
To sta te a p reference is bo th to choose and to expl a in the bases of
cho ice. But Barll eby a lso refuses to expl a in his "preferences." T hey
mi ght grow from affirma ti on- "I
will
no t"; or from in ability-I
canno t. Just as the lawyer seeks here to interpret refusa l in tenT.S of
will , he la ter seeks to do so in terms of necess ity, wh en Bartleby stops
performing the very
raison d'elre
of scr iven ers, the act of copying:
"Wh y, how now? Wh a t n ext?" excla imed I, " Do no mo re wr it-
ing?" .
·' No mo re."
"And wh at is th e reason ?"
" Do you no t see the reason for yourself?" he indifferentl y rep lied .
T he lawyer must suppl y hi s own reasons. He thinks that Ba rtl eby's
"eyes looked dull and g lazed," and concl udes tha t they are strain ed by
his "unexampl ed dili gence in cop ying by his dim window . ... "
Touched, he instantl y pardons Bartl eby and encourages him to res t and
take fresh a ir-whi ch , o f course, he does no t do. The story continues :
