Bartleby the Shrivener by Hermon Melville

The short story Bartleby the Scrivener by Hermon Melville is the story of a lawyer who employs an odd man by the name of Bartleby. The speaker goes into detail about every one of his employees, but Bartleby seems to be peculiar and causes issues. A motif is used when Bartleby repeats, "'I would prefer not to'" (Melville, 650). This statement first is viewed as disrespect and insubordination. After Bartleby makes this all his responses, the speaker begins to question why Bartleby is not comfortable with the requests made. These words even begin to impact the other workers in the building. The speaker and Nipper find themselves subconsciously using the term "prefer" just as Bartleby does. The speaker realises that Bartleby is confined to himself and lacks friendship and a social life. The entire story is focused on the speaker attempting to convince Bartleby to change. Just as Bartleby continues to make the same statement, he continues to refuse making any changes to his lifestyle. This motif is able to connect every scenario because every dialogue with Bartleby ends with the same result, stubbornness.