412
PARTISAN REVIEW
Still added days went by. Wheth er Bartl eby's eyes improved o r no t,
I could no t say. T o all appearance, I thought they did. But when I
asked him if they did , h e vouch safed no answer. At a ll events, he
would do no copying . At las t, in reply to my urg ings, h e informed
me th at he h ad permanently given up cop ying.
"What !" exclaimed I, "suppose your eyes should get el1lirely
well-better th an ever before-would you not cop y then?"
" I have given up cop ying" h e an swered, and slid as ide.
Bartleby 's preferences canno t be understood in terms either of wishes or
necessities; both can only be the lawyer 's-and reader 's-assumptions.
The story proceeds in p art by deep ening and extendin g bo th
Bartl eby's refusa ls and the lawyer 's outrage and solicitude. But it also
moves powerfull y: by its end , much has happened . No thing, however,
seems to happen to Bartleby, whose very dea th continues hi s life-no t
only in the lawyer 's anticipa tory vision (he sees th e "scriven er's p ale
form ... laid out, among uncaring strangers") but in the sequel's
image of Bartl eby as a clerk in the "Dead Letter Office at Washington ."
Ra ther, all mo vement is the lawyer 's - se t off bo th against Bartl eby's
utter remoten ess and the mere, recurrent busyness o f his clients and
colleagues, his oth er employees, and his fell ow New Yorkers.
It
is his
story not only because, as narra tor, he tells it, but because it is only to
him th at things happen and meanings occur. Turning to him , we turn
to the Story itself.
Few critics dea l adequa tely with the lawyer. T hey are usuall y
severe about his conventionalism , his incap ac ity to meet the ch all enge
imposed by Bartl eby, or to comprehend it; a t mos t they see him as at
bes t weB-intentioned but as inconsistent, embodying the defi cien cies
of business culture. This is not wholly wrong, but it is unjust and
therefore inadequa te. His voi ce merits a less condescending hearing:
So true it is, and so terribl e too, th at up
to
a certain po il1lthe thought
or sight o f misery enlists our bes t affections; but, in certain special
cases, beyond th at po int it
does
no t. They
err
who would assert th at
invariably this is owing to th e inherent selfishn ess of the human
heart.
It
rather proceeds from a certa in hopelessn ess o f remed ying
excess ive
and organic ill. The scr ivener was th e victim of inna te and
incurabl e disorder. I might give alms to his body; but his bod y did
no t pain him ; it was his soul that suffered, and his soul I could no t
reach .
The language is tha t of a prudent and convention ally sympa theti c
man , but these are no t the thou ghts of a m an merely prudent or
conventional. And , clearl y, his efforts to help Bartl eby press hard
