"Bartleby, the Scribe" by Herman Melville is the story of a scribe (a copyist) who has an unusually dark character. Ultimately, he takes it upon himself to refuse his boss's (the narrator's) requests to complete the same job he was hired to do. The story, in itself, has a very interesting premise, but probably even more interesting is the narrator's attitude towards Bartleby and how it changes several times. The narrator's attitude toward Bartleby in "Bartleby, the Scribe" changes over the course of the story from one of happy approval to one of intensely curious pity to one of dark sorrow. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay After meeting Bartleby for the first time, the narrator's opinion of him is that Bartleby is a tacit, though trustworthy, young man; the narrator approves of it, if somewhat reluctantly. The narrator notes that Bartleby not only does his job but does it without assistance: "At first Bartleby wrote an extraordinary amount of writing. As if he had long been starved for something to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my papers." As such, the narrator's business and his opportunity are greatly improved from before Bartleby's presence, when the narrator had to deal with the refinements and comings and goings of Turkey and Nippers' personalities. Despite this, the narrator notes at one point: "I should have been very happy with his question, had I been cheerfully industrious. But he continued to write silently, palely, mechanically." This excerpt serves as the first bit of foreshadowing about Bartleby; the narrator has a hunch about him, though it works wonderfully at first. However, the narrator continues to grudgingly approve of Bartleby. Subsequently, however, the narrator describes in detail what will be the last event of his first phase of attitude towards Bartleby: "In haste and natural expectation of immediate obedience, I sat down with my head bowed on the original on my desk, and my right hand at an angle... so that, as soon as he emerged from his refuge, Bartleby might seize it and proceed to business without the slightest delay." This highlights that despite Bartleby's eccentricities, the narrator still sees him as a trustworthy young man. Although this will almost immediately shift to the new attitude. Throughout the middle section of the story, the narrator's attitude toward Bartleby is one of intense and curious pity. One day, Bartleby simply refuses to perform a standard work task, simply remarking, "I'd rather not." At first, the narrator tries to shake it off; ignoring it and doing the work yourself. After a few days, the episode repeats itself, leaving the narrator unable to ignore it. Even the narrator is unable to deal with it in the traditional way, stating: "With any other man I would have fallen into a terrible passion... But there was something in Bartleby which not only strangely disarmed me, but in a wonderful way made me touched and disconcerted." The narrator's feelings towards Bartleby are clearly different, but he is unable to identify them at this point. If not to the narrator, it is clear to the reader, clear that the narrator's attitude is one of intense curiosity. Observe, for example, the narrator's curiosity in the following passage: «So he lives on ginger nuts, I thought; never eats a dinner, properly speaking; he eats nothing but ginger nuts. My mind then raced in reveries concerning the probable effects on the human constitution of living entirely on nuts.