Bartleby the Scrivener died of sadness, feeling trapped and completely without place in the programmed society that had developed around him. Furthermore, he fell victim to his own desire to resist the mindless description that characters like the narrator achieved so effortlessly. Bartleby's death plainly points to Melville's dissatisfied view of the modern world; a world where strength comes from weakness and flexibility, and where the naturally weak overpower the strong. In addition, to define Bartleby the Scrivener in such simple terms, however, is to ignore some important, specific…
