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Dilemmas & costs · Bartleby, the Scrivener

He can leave the office. Can he leave the problem?

A character escapes an exhausting situation, but the people left with it still know whom to call.

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Bartleby, the Scrivener · Herman Melville

Bartleby, the Scrivener: Later office scenes, relocation and the visits from the new occupants and landlord.

The situation

Bartleby eventually stops working and will not leave the lawyer’s premises. The lawyer wants relief without violently removing him.

What the source describes

The lawyer moves his office. Bartleby stays, and the new occupants and landlord later approach the lawyer about him. The geographical exit has not ended the social claim on his involvement.

How the choices connect

  1. Direct efforts fail to settle the unwanted dependency.
  2. The protagonist exits and experiences temporary relief.
  3. Those inheriting the problem seek them out and demand a response.

Watch for…

Do not make every escape fail by coincidence. Let the move solve a real problem, then identify the separate obligation it did not settle. The story questions whether leaving is enough; it does not establish that responsibility is unlimited.

Read the source passages

Later office scenes, relocation and the visits from the new occupants and landlord. ↗
Selected passages: Later office scenes, relocation and the visits from the new occupants and landlord.

CUESHELF INTERPRETATION

How this moves the story

An exit can work without settling everything. The person who leaves gets relief; someone else inherits the unfinished task and has a reason to seek them out. That return should follow an existing relationship or practical need, so the story moves forward instead of simply cancelling the escape.

Try it in your story

Write two columns: what leaving solves for your character, and what remains for someone else to handle. Choose the person most likely to ask for help. Give them a concrete request and let the protagonist answer it from the new position they worked to reach.

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