Corporate Culture In Herman Melville’s Bartleby The Scrivener

Herman Melville’s 1856 short story Bartleby, the Scrivener, reflects on corporate society in relation to the development of capitalism in America during the 19th century. Melville mirrors the concepts of isolation, passive resistance, and the effects of mechanized work alienation through the cold and rigid setting a Wall Street law office’s. Bartleby can be seen fiercely resisting the oppression of office life with his “I would prefer not to” refrain. The narrator, a lawyer who is efficient, submissive, and chronically compliant, exemplifies the erosion of compassion and support in the corporate system by participating in and witnessing the spectacle. Bartleby is not just a critique of modern capitalism; his plight brings forth considerations about workplace ethics, emotional and mental stress incurred by repetitive tasks, and modern emotional laden workspaces. Through Melville’s story, we are called to reflect on the issue of becoming morally blind concerning the cost to human beings behind the institutional frameworks governing needs surrendering.