- description
- # Bartleby's Refusal and Narrator's Attempts
## Overview
This segment, titled "Bartleby's Refusal and Narrator's Attempts," is a textual component extracted from the short story "[Bartleby, The Scrivener](arke:01KG8AJ8SS2R5YVRHT1BCDZZNP)." It spans lines 884 to 920 of the source text and details the narrator's observations and reactions to Bartleby's escalating refusal to perform his duties as a scrivener.
## Context
This segment is part of "[Bartleby, The Scrivener](arke:01KG8AJ8SS2R5YVRHT1BCDZZNP)," a short story included in the "[Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW)" collection. It was extracted from the digital file "[bartleby_the_scrivener.txt](arke:01KG89J1CRGPEZ66W67EZPAMPE)." This segment follows "[Escalation of Bartleby's Refusals and Narrator's Attempts to Manage](arke:01KG8AJMX3RVHT94FF89S8B805)" and precedes "[Narrator's Ultimatum and Bartleby's Continued Presence](arke:01KG8AJMX304Y0FS6H8X38TX4H)," indicating its place in the narrative progression of Bartleby's increasing passivity and the narrator's struggle to comprehend and manage the situation.
## Contents
The segment describes the narrator's attempts to understand Bartleby's behavior, initially attributing his refusal to copy to impaired vision. The narrator expresses sympathy and suggests Bartleby take exercise, but Bartleby declines. As Bartleby's refusals extend to carrying letters to the post office and eventually to all copying work, the narrator becomes increasingly frustrated, viewing Bartleby as a "millstone." Despite this, the narrator feels pity for Bartleby, who appears to be utterly alone, and contemplates how to remove him from the office.
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:07.781Z
- description_model
- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- Bartleby's Refusal and Narrator's Attempts
- end_line
- 920
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:47:37.562Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 884
- text
- I looked steadfastly at him, and perceived that his eyes looked dull
and glazed. Instantly it occurred to me, that his unexampled diligence
in copying by his dim window for the first few weeks of his stay with
me might have temporarily impaired his vision.
I was touched. I said something in condolence with him. I hinted that
of course he did wisely in abstaining from writing for a while; and
urged him to embrace that opportunity of taking wholesome exercise in
the open air. This, however, he did not do. A few days after this, my
other clerks being absent, and being in a great hurry to dispatch
certain letters by the mail, I thought that, having nothing else
earthly to do, Bartleby would surely be less inflexible than usual, and
carry these letters to the post-office. But he blankly declined. So,
much to my inconvenience, I went myself.
Still added days went by. Whether Bartleby’s eyes improved or not, I
could not say. To all appearance, I thought they did. But when I asked
him if they did, he vouchsafed no answer. At all events, he would do no
copying. At last, in reply to my urgings, he informed me that he had
permanently given up copying.
“What!” exclaimed I; “suppose your eyes should get entirely well—better
than ever before—would you not copy then?”
“I have given up copying,” he answered, and slid aside.
He remained as ever, a fixture in my chamber. Nay—if that were
possible—he became still more of a fixture than before. What was to be
done? He would do nothing in the office: why should he stay there? In
plain fact, he had now become a millstone to me, not only useless as a
necklace, but afflictive to bear. Yet I was sorry for him. I speak less
than truth when I say that, on his own account, he occasioned me
uneasiness. If he would but have named a single relative or friend, I
would instantly have written, and urged their taking the poor fellow
away to some convenient retreat. But he seemed alone, absolutely alone
in the universe. A bit of wreck in the mid Atlantic. At length,
necessities connected with my business tyrannized over all other
- title
- Bartleby's Refusal and Narrator's Attempts