"His face was leanly composed, his gray eyes dimly calm. Not a wrinkle of agitation rippled him. Had there been the least uneasiness, anger, impatience or impertinence in his manner, in other words had there been anything ordinarily human about him, doubtless I should have violently dismissed him from the premises."
I will now attempt to characterize Bartleby and the people he bothered. I'll start with Bartleby because he is the character I understand least. I think the quote from the narrator is very telling, especially the part about Bartleby not exhibiting any human emotions. This shows that not only is Bartleby not like any other normal person, but he probably has something wrong with him. The author suggested that the man might be deranged, and I agree that Bartleby seems like someone with a mental illness. He refused to do anything, lived in the office, and then starved himself to death. He was firm in his refusals, never taking the narrator's bait to make him mad. Bartleby may have resisted change which would explain why he wouldn't leave the office. The narrator tried to understand his employee, but his methods were questionable. He often tried to avoid direct confrontation, and he never fired Bartleby or sent him to jail. I don't understand why the narrator felt close to Bartleby, or why he felt like he needed to help him. I especially don't understand why he tried to help him when Bartleby caused him nothing but trouble.
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