Wall Street needs slavery. In order for there to be excessive wealth, there must be an exploitation of others. In “Bartleby, the Scrivener”, Herman Melville draws a thinly veiled comparison between slavery and the legal exploitation of others for the creation of wealth.
Melville unfolds his story in a Wall Street office of a “bonds, mortgages, and title-deeds” lawyer. (20) The office is filled with copyists who tire away for a few schillings per day as they craft documents and perform the tasks asked of their respected and well to do employer. The employees barely make enough money to survive. Bartleby often sleeps on the office couch and lives on a diet of stale cake. In nearly impoverished conditions, they faithfully continue to draft legal documents and the necessary paperwork that keeps the very rich getting even richer. Until one day when Bartleby “prefers not to”. Upon the request to examine a small paper from his employer, Bartleby replied “I would prefer not to.” (27) This refusal to comply continued day in and day out, with the exasperated employer continually making accommodations to try and acquiesce Bartelby into complying. Steadfast in his new commitment of preferring not to, Bartleby never performed another task for his employer. For months Bartleby would arrive at the office and sit dutifully at his desk, without performing any work. Not possessing the strength to throw him out, yet infuriated at his insubordination, the employer moved his office to another location in order to rid himself of the employee who “preferred not to” work.
Melville pens this story during a time of great discussion about slavery. The “southern states” would surely face economic destruction if they were to lose the free labor that had kept them rich in cotton, farming, and tobacco exports. Many of the “northern states” felt slavery to be a grave social injustice and condemned the slave trade and anyone associated with it. The compromise of 1850 had just been passed which allowed certain new territories below the parallel 35’ line to participate in slavery and most of the new territories above the line were slave free.
This gerrymandering of a human beings freedom was ridiculed by the northern states, especially in the social circles of New York City that encompassed Wall Street. In his own way, Melville is stating that even in the free states and liberal social circles of New York City, slavery exists. Granted, the extreme treatment of slaves is of no comparison to the copyists. However the driving force behind slavery and the exploitation of the workers is the same; the creation of extreme wealth for a minority of the population. What Melville is proposing is a better sense of humanity towards those employed/exploited for the gain of others. If a slave in the south was to reply to a master “I prefer not to” they would be beaten or killed. In “Bartleby”, the exploited worker is not beaten or killed but shown kindness and allowed to continue living in the office. How many plantation owners would pack up and move to a new location so an insubordinate slave that “preferred not to” could stay in their current abode? Although I wish that Melville was calling for an end to all slavery and exploitation of workers, what he is proposing through “Bartleby” is a more humane treatment of those workers that are a necessity to build the fortunes of the wealthy. This helps to explain the personal stance of Melville and slavery.
According to Stanton Garner in “The Civil War World of Herman Melville” by University Press of Kansas, “Herman Melville was not intellectually and emotionally detached from the war. In actuality, Melville brooded over the war’s enormous brutality and destructive power.” “By delving into the complexities and apparent contradictions of Melville’s personal life, Garner reveals why a man who was diametrically opposed to slavery refused to side with the abolitionists and maintained the anti-administration attitude predominant in his Democratic family while supporting the Union war effort.” Although Melville opposes the treatment of slavery, he appears sympathetic to the financial needs of the Union South. In “Bartleby”, Melville creates an environment conducive to the discussion of human exploitation and a kinder approach to slavery.
Melville craftily displays how the exploitation of workers in “Bartleby” is a socially approved institution of slavery. Wall Street, not unlike the slave owning plantations of the south, is all about the use of power to control another mans destiny that it may yield to himself a financial benefit. Ah the Humanity.
Work Cited
Garner, Stanton “The Civil War World of Herman Melville”, University Press of Kan sas. 2007. Print.
Grenander, ME “Benito Cereno and Legal Oppression: A Szaszian Interpretation” The Thomas S. Szasz M.D. Cybercenter for Liberty and Responsibility. Web.
Melville, Herman. “Bartleby, the Scrivener. A Story of Wall Street.” Literature: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Janet E. Gardner et al 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford, 2009. 20-60. Print
