![]() ![]() The story concludes with Bartleby in prison. At the end of their rope, the new occupants have the police arrest Bartleby. The new occupants complain to the Narrator, but he tells them the truth – Bartleby isn't his responsibility. Another practice moves into the building, only to discover that Bartleby is still a fixture there. Rather than take any more drastic measures to get Bartleby out of his office, the lawyer actually picks up and moves his practice elsewhere. ![]() Finally, he is firmly asked to leave…but he just doesn't. Eventually, this refusal grows more bizarre, when Bartleby announces that he will no longer work as a copyist – but prefers simply to stay in the office and not do any work. Bartleby is always in the office, either working or staring out the window at a facing wall, and it turns out that he actually lives in the office. ![]() The lawyer and his other employees are shocked, but Bartleby just won't do what they ask. ![]() Bartleby proceeds to work well as a copyist, but refuses to help out with any other office tasks – or rather, he simply "prefers" not to. Enter Bartleby, a quiet, initially efficient, anti-social little man. This story, in its most basic, stripped-down form, is a simple one: a successful lawyer, in need of assistance, hires a new scrivener (a kind of human Xerox machine) to join his small firm. ![]()
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