In Bartleby, The Scrivener, Melville utilizes the spread of the word “prefer” to emphasize the plague of otherness in typical society life. The word “prefer” is not anything unusual but instead is just a formal and passive way of saying you want something. This word is consistently used by Bartleby when he refuses to accomplish his hired work by simply stating “I would prefer not to” (Melville, 1482). The rest of the characters in Melville’s story see Bartleby as a strange man who is “thin and pale” (Melville 1482) and had nothing “ordinarily human about him” (Melville 1476). This description of Bartleby paints him as an outsider to the human occupants of the Wall Street office who were given nicknames based on personality traits. Bartleby is the only worker who does not have one of these nicknames since he is not humanized by the narrator. The narrator understands the habits, personalities and lives of the other workers, but Bartleby is an enigma. This characterization of Bartleby as a mysterious outsider or “other” explains why Bartleby is the only character called by his actual name.
This otherness further explains why the spread of the word “prefer” was a frustrating and exciting realization for the narrator. It represents the fear that society has over the unusual infiltrating “normal society” if you allow it to remain near you (and why most “others” are cast out of society as outsiders). The narrator describes his personal usage of the word as “involuntary” and questions if his “contact with the scrivener had already and seriously affected [him] in a mental way” (Melville, 1483). The narrator describes the spread of the word “prefer” in the way someone would describe an incurable disease. This implication reveals the fear that the narrator and workers have over Bartleby’s oddities spreading to them. As if to intensify this fear, both Nippers and Turkey begin using the word “prefer” too. Turkey states Bartleby would “prefer to take a quart of good ale…” (Melville, 1483) and Nippers asks if the narrator would “prefer to have a certain paper…” (Melville, 1484). This spread of Bartleby’s otherness is only noticed by the narrator who finds this both concerning and exciting. By utilizing something as small as the spread of a word to indicate that a “disease” of otherness is infiltrating the men of the office, a broader message on the perception of differences and strangeness by “normal” society can be better understood.
Really interesting post, Maggie! I like the idea of the word ‘prefer’ spreading like a virus, suggesting both Bartleby’s otherness, but also perhaps that his notion of resistance can spread. Being allowed to prefer is a good thing, right?
I love this idea Maggie – I was also considering the notion of “prefer” signifying a better option, but Bartleby’s failure to ever expound upon what he would rather do reinforces his ambivalence and passivity towards his work. Furthermore, throughout the story I wondered why the narrator didn’t reinforce such obligations under his work, such as commanding rather than asking him to complete a task. In this way, I wonder if the narrator also held some ambivalence towards the implications of capitalism and obligation to his work.
I absolutely love your point on Bartleby not getting a nickname because he stands as an enigma to the narrator. Even though Melville’s descriptions of Turkey and Nippers oftentimes go into extreme detail, the fact that he seems to have a complete, machine-like understanding of their vivid personalities implicitly simplifies them. Yes, they seem to have unique quirks, but the way the narrator manipulates the way they interact with Bartleby and use his understanding of their mental framework to support his own agenda reduces them to nothing more than cogs in a machine. This contrasts heavily with Bartleby, where though he has a seemingly incredibly straightforward personality, the narrator never seems to be able to figure out just how or why he behaves the way he does. I’m not quite sure how this is related but this reminds me of that internal struggle the narrator had on Page 1475, where even though Bartleby to the reader appears to be the perfect Wall Street scrivener in his mechanical work-rate, the narrator mourns his lack of “cheerful industrialism”. I think there’s an argument to be made here as to what that really means – maybe the true dehumanizing facet of capitalist Wall Street isn’t about the lack of personality, but rather the desire for complete and utter control over the minds of those who believe they have autonomy.