Herman Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener gives the audience insight into problems in the workplace such as depression, denial, and the unavoidable laziness. Bartleby is a clerk who works in the generic office place of a seeminly wealthy and seemingly charitable business owner who goes unnamed and remains the narrator throughout the story. Bartleby's attitude is depressive, passive, and detatched from all happenings going on around him. Mellville explores passivness not only in the workplace, but in general amidst society by assigning a careless attitude and persona to Bartleby.
When asked to apply himself, Bartleby does not respond viciously or aggressively, but rather with "I prefer not to." This amplifies the frustrations and confusions felt by the narrator as he seeks to decifer the emotions of Bartleby. Not only does Melville explore passiveness in the workplace, but other emotions through the characters of Turkey and Nippers. Turkey is a drunkard who is only reliable in the mornings, before his consumption takes place. Nippers is irritable in the mornings, and only worth of applying himself in the afternoons. When all characters are combined, drastic extreme character foils reveal frustrations that take place within the office setting.
As we explored Melville's work, we were asked to research a current event in correspondence to themes revealed by Melville (depression in the workplace, mere silliness... depression in general... etc.) In an article published through Mental Health America, Depression as a result of the workplace is analyzed, as well as Depression and its effect on those in the workplace. The article can be applied to and compared with Melville's Bartleby the Scrivner as it explains symtoms of those with Depression (lack of energy, lack of interest, overwhelming fatigue...etc.) Bartleby experienced one or all symptoms at some point in Melville's work.
http://www.nmha.org/index.cfm?objectid=C7DF951E-1372-4D20-C88B7DC5A2AE586D
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