Bartleby the Scrivener: a Story of Wall Street

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What is the Boss up against in relation to Bartleby? What does Bartleby represent? Who are the major players in the story? What do we know about them? Are they likable, sympathetic or Realistic? The Boss is up against Bartleby's constant resistance and refusal to do anything at his job. It comes to the point where Bartleby even refuses to fulfill basic biological needs such as finding a home or feeding himself. The Boss is the protagonist of the story because the reader gets to see more of his emotions and attitude towards the situations and characters of the story. The reader also sees Bartleby through the narrator's eyes. In the Boss' eyes, Bartleby is against him and everyone else. This is what makes Bartleby the antagonist of the story. Bartleby does represent a force beyond himself as an individual because of his stubborn and resistant ways of responding to people. He also keeps to himself and refuses to reveal his life story to the Boss. The major players of the story are the Boss and Bartleby. The Boss is obviously the boss at the law firm. He is a "rather elderly man" of about sixty years. Bartleby is an employee at the law firm. Around the time he is introduced, Bartleby is described as a hard worker, but as the story goes on he becomes stubborn and resistant with the Boss. When asked to do something by his Boss, he would simply reply with "I would prefer not to". Bartleby isn't exactly the most likable person of the story due to his stubbornness and repetition. The Boss, on the other hand, shows a more likable personality due to his magnanimous and sympathetic attitude towards Bartleby throughout most points of the story. In a way Bartleby can be viewed as a realistic character in this story because he can represent many resistant employees that exist in reality. These are employees that are bored with their jobs and become stubborn over time as a

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