Bartleby, the Scrivener

Herman Melville's portrayal of Bartleby in the short story Bartleby, the Scrivener, was very difficult for me to understand. My opinions of Bartleby fluctuated greatly throughout the story. At first, he struck me as a no nonsense, straight to work kind of fellow. He was fast at copying and very accurate. Then, my opinion of Bartleby's character changed. " '...I want you to help me compare this sheet here-take it,' and I thrust it towards him. 'I would prefer not to,' said he" (Melville, 649-650). When Bartleby kept "preferring not to" do examine the documents, I came to a conclusion that maybe Bartleby could not read and was embarrassed by it. I know Bartleby was a copyist; however, I believed that maybe he has some sort of talent where he could just copy the words without being about to read them. Quickly though, this conclusion was wrong yet again. When Bartleby starting "preferring not to" do anything at all, I knew there wasn't something quite right with him. My last conclusion was that he might have some form of autism. By his apparent lack of connection with anyone and inability to communicate to the lawyer or anyone else even further strengthened this hypothesis. Autistic people have very strict routines that they hardly stray from and are repetitive in things they say and do. They are reluctant to any type of change or anything that would deviate them from the normal day to day activities. Bartleby was clearly used to and preferred his position at the office. When his eyes went bad and couldn't copy, Bartleby still came to the office everyday. When the lawyer changed offices completely to get Bartleby out, Bartleby still went to the office everyday. " 'The time has come; you must quit this place; I am sorry for you; here his the money; but you must go.'  'I would prefer not,' he replied, with his back still toward me," (Melville, 662). The details throughout the entire short story helped prove this conclusion that I believe to be true.