Herman Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener" Quiz

Answer: A clerk, scribe or notary

A scrivener is a person who can read and write and makes their living by writing or copying written works. Bartleby was a special type of scrivener who wrote letters to court and legal documents.

Answer: A lawyer

The narrator was an "unambitious" lawyer with thirty years of experience. He counted John Jacob Astor as one of his clients. Astor, who died in 1848, just before the setting of our story, was the richest man in the world at the time of his death. So, Bartleby was a legal scrivener.

Answer: The office of Master in Chancery was conferred upon the lawyer.

The lawyer was able to work around the ineffectiveness of his two existing scriveners with his original business. However, he received the Master in Chancery appointment, which considerably increased his workload.

Answer: False

Quite the opposite. For the first three days Bartleby worked long hours and did an "extraordinary quantity" of writing.

Answer: He replied, "I would prefer not to".

This famous phrase from Bartleby was unexpected, and initially the lawyer let it pass, getting Nippers to perform the copyreading task with him.

Answer: Stood at his window.

At this point Bartleby was utterly useless as a scrivener. He would not write, copyread, or do any errands. This frustrated the lawyer, but he had pity on Bartleby.

Answer: He stated, "I prefer not to quit you".

After giving six days' notice, $20 more than what was owed, and a weekend for Bartleby to leave, the lawyer was no better off. Bartleby continued to stand in the office looking out. Other attorneys, clients and the remaining office staff had to work around him, and requests of him for help were met with silence.

Answer: He moved his office, leaving Bartleby behind.

The room was completely emptied, and Bartleby was left standing alone. The lawyer attempted to slip something to Bartleby, but it fell on the floor, then he left. Established in new quarters the lawyer thought all was going well, but...

Answer: He stayed in the office and was turned out by the landlord, so he haunted the building generally.

The landlord, his lawyer and other tenants of the building sought out the narrator at his new office and implored him to do something to get Bartleby to move. The narrator talked with Bartleby and even offered to let him come to his home. Bartleby's reply was that he preferred to not make a change at all.

The landlord then had the police come and take Bartleby to the Tombs as a vagrant.

Answer: He lies down and dies from starvation.

The narrator arranges for food to be brought to Bartleby from Mr. Cutlets, "the grub-man". However, Bartleby "prefers not to dine today". When the narrator returns to the Tombs, the grub-man asks, "won't he dine today, either? Or does he live without dining?" Bartleby was dead. During the story Bartley stated that he preferred not to do something 23 times in all. "Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!" the story concludes.