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PARTISAN REVIEW
o bliga ti ons in ways compa tibl e with the texture o f the market. The
hi gh emo tion th at had surrounded both the fulfillment and problems
of obliga ti on and help two centuries ear lier had by th e la te eighteen th
century subsided into puzzled un certa inty or calm and routinized
moralities-benevo lence, sympa thy, charity, prudence-which defined
the ch aracter o f personal obliga tions in the n ewl y unifo rm civil society.
This is the moral world tha t Bartl eby's p resence di sturbs. H e is
who ll y beyond th e other scriven ers' "eccentricities", as the lawyer calls
them . Starting as the mos t ass iduous of scri veners, unconcerned w ith
the little social universe of the lawyer 's chambers, Bartl eby seems
rapidl y
to
withdraw from a ll social bonds and reciprocities-no t in
response to the lawyer 's efforts, but in the course of being tha t whi ch
he has a lways been . The lawyer exh austs the possi bilities o f ch arity and
sympa th y; yet he moves beyond th e measured generosity o f Pa ley's
" three principal methods of p romo ting the h appiness of our inferiors"
and p as t the limits of sympa th y "wh ere melan cho ly merges with fear .
pity into repulsion ", into searing, ineffectu al compass ion.
It is a remarkable performance, given its starting po int. Yet
Bartleby remains bo th h elpless and unhelpable and , despite his strenu–
ous effort and the recurren t rage th a t Bartl eby inspires, the lawyer is
"upbraided " bo th by Bartl eby and his own surprised self. Somehow he
has failed-not onl y to reli eve Banl eby, but LO do wha t he might have
done. Persisting in moral implicati on , even though Bartleby 's unend–
ing, sta tionary presence dissolves the forms and contents of his moral
code, the lawyer ventures unknowing ly towards our own time. For the
story does more than stra in and sha tter an earl y busin ess morality.
It
al so says something about the character of helping bonds in the who le
of modern culture.
Bartl eby's presence imposes a limitless tes t on the lawyer. Bartleby
quickl y ceases to exchange services for payment, fulfill s no social
reciprocity, makes no n eed known , seems no t even
to
ignore-it is as if
they are no t-all a ttempts to h elp him . Yet the lawyer moves th rough
mounting distress to deepening though res igned commitment. As the
unbounded character o f Bartl eby's apparent demands emerges, the
lawyer 's respon se comes to anticipa te a moral LOn e of our own , more
forml ess time. We canno t know, nor need we ask, wh y Bartl eby is
who ll y unhelpable, but our own experience hints a t the lawyer's
oscillating ambiva lence, his bewildered failure, and his indign a tion
and agreement a t being rep roached .
Helping bonds in the modern world are po tenti a ll y limitless
becau se they are no longer set in a structure of sp ecified obliga tions.
