- description
- # Escalation of Bartleby's idleness and the narrator's increasing frustration/attempts to dismiss him
## Overview - What this is (type, form, dates, scope)
This is a section from the short story "Bartleby" by Herman Melville, extracted from the text file [the_piazza_tales.txt](arke:01KG89J1F4D8P9BBX9AMGZ7TX7). The section, labeled "Escalation of Bartleby's idleness and the narrator's increasing frustration/attempts to dismiss him," spans lines 953-995. It is part of the chapter [Bartleby](arke:01KG8AJK1PKEBJJCANV911N8JS) within the larger collection [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW).
## Context - Background and provenance from related entities
This section follows the previous section, [Bartleby's first refusals and the narrator's attempts to understand/deal with them](arke:01KG8AK3ENHHH8XS65JQBJXC83), and precedes [Bartleby's first refusals and the narrator's attempts to understand/deal with them.](arke:01KG8AK3EJHGZFAPPMWQ9JDEPM). The text was extracted by the "structure-extraction-lambda" tool. The file "the_piazza_tales.txt" is a plain text file containing the short story "Bartleby," which is part of the "Melville Complete Works" collection.
## Contents - What it contains, key subjects and details
This section details the escalation of Bartleby's refusal to perform his duties. The narrator, after Bartleby completes quadruplicates of documents, asks him to help examine them. Bartleby responds with his now-familiar phrase, "I would prefer not to." The narrator is taken aback and attempts to reason with Bartleby, but to no avail. The narrator's frustration grows, but he is also disarmed by Bartleby's demeanor.
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:54.083Z
- description_model
- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- Escalation of Bartleby's idleness and the narrator's increasing frustration/attempts to dismiss him
- end_line
- 995
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:47:52.603Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 953
- text
- A few days after this, Bartleby concluded four lengthy documents, being
quadruplicates of a week’s testimony taken before me in my High Court
of Chancery. It became necessary to examine them. It was an important
suit, and great accuracy was imperative. Having all things arranged, I
called Turkey, Nippers and Ginger Nut, from the next room, meaning to
place the four copies in the hands of my four clerks, while I should
read from the original. Accordingly, Turkey, Nippers, and Ginger Nut
had taken their seats in a row, each with his document in his hand,
when I called to Bartleby to join this interesting group.
“Bartleby! quick, I am waiting.”
I heard a slow scrape of his chair legs on the uncarpeted floor, and
soon he appeared standing at the entrance of his hermitage.
“What is wanted?” said he, mildly.
“The copies, the copies,” said I, hurriedly. “We are going to examine
them. There”—and I held towards him the fourth quadruplicate.
“I would prefer not to,” he said, and gently disappeared behind the
screen.
For a few moments I was turned into a pillar of salt, standing at the
head of my seated column of clerks. Recovering myself, I advanced
towards the screen, and demanded the reason for such extraordinary
conduct.
“_Why_ do you refuse?”
“I would prefer not to.”
With any other man I should have flown outright into a dreadful
passion, scorned all further words, and thrust him ignominiously from
my presence. But there was something about Bartleby that not only
strangely disarmed me, but, in a wonderful manner, touched and
disconcerted me. I began to reason with him.
“These are your own copies we are about to examine. It is labor saving
to you, because one examination will answer for your four papers. It is
common usage. Every copyist is bound to help examine his copy. Is it
not so? Will you not speak? Answer!”
- title
- Escalation of Bartleby's idleness and the narrator's increasing frustration/attempts to dismiss him