# Bartleby — Short Fiction character guide

> Bartleby in Short Fiction by Herman Melville.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** poor Bartleby, the wasted Bartleby

**First appearance:** 0000-bartleby

## Snapshot

A pale, silent scrivener who answers every request with the same quiet refusal, gradually turning a Wall Street law office into a stage for passive resistance.

## Who they are

Bartleby arrives at the narrator's chambers as a copyist, works with mechanical diligence, then one day declines to proofread with the phrase 'I would prefer not to.' He never explains, never argues, never leaves, and his stillness becomes more unsettling than any outburst. His refusal exposes the limits of the narrator's comfortable prudence and turns an ordinary office into a meditation on will, pity, and the walls we build around other people.

## Relationships

### [The Narrator (Bartleby)](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_28_se/characters/the_narrator_bartleby)

_professional_

The narrator employs Bartleby as a scrivener, but their relationship becomes strained by Bartleby's passive resistance and the narrator's growing obsession.

### [Turkey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_28_se/characters/turkey)

_professional_

Bartleby and Turkey are fellow scriveners, but their interactions are minimal and defined by the office hierarchy and Bartleby's withdrawal.

### [The Narrator (Bartleby)](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_28_se/characters/the_narrator_bartleby)

_professional_

The narrator employs Bartleby as a scrivener, but their relationship becomes strained by Bartleby's passive resistance and the narrator's growing obsession.

### [The Narrator (Bartleby)](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_28_se/characters/the_narrator_bartleby)

_professional_

The narrator employs Bartleby as a scrivener, but their relationship becomes strained by Bartleby's passive resistance and the narrator's growing obsession.

### [Turkey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_28_se/characters/turkey)

_professional_

Bartleby and Turkey are fellow scriveners, but their interactions are minimal and defined by the office hierarchy and Bartleby's withdrawal.

## In the story

### [Bartleby](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_28_se/chapters/bartleby)

The strange scrivener who initially works diligently but later refuses to copy or leave.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_28_se/characters/bartleby
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_28_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_28_se/characters