The elder scrivener, nicknamed Turkey, is nearing sixty and it is implied that he drinks heavily on his lunch hour. The lawyer describes each of his employees in turn. Before hiring Bartleby, the narrator-henceforth referred to as the lawyer-employed two law-copyists, or scriveners, and one office boy. The narrator describes himself as an unambitious, elderly lawyer who has enjoyed a comfortable tenure as Master in Chancery.

The narrator of “Bartleby the Scrivener” begins the story by introducing the reader to the law office on Wall Street of which he was the manager when he first met Bartleby. It is highly admired for its remarkable ability to accommodate multiple interpretations. The story's enduring appeal largely stems from its well-crafted ambiguity. However one interprets its ultimate meaning, the story provides an exploration into such universal issues of the human experience as alienation, passivity, nonconformity, and psychological imprisonment. Others have viewed it as a philosophical meditation on the human condition, or as a religious parable on religion itself. Most have viewed it as a piece of social criticism dealing with the psychological effects of capitalism as it existed in the 1850s. The story has been interpreted by critics in numerous ways.

One day, Bartleby the scrivener announces that he 'would prefer not to' follow his employer's orders or even to be “a little reasonable.” The resulting tragedy follows from Bartleby's inability or unwillingness to articulate the reasons for his rebellion and from his employer's inability to comprehend Bartleby's reasons for resisting and ultimate unwillingness to accommodate him.

The plot involves one man's difficulty in coping with his employee's peculiar form of passive resistance. 'Bartleby the Scrivener' was written by Herman Melville in 1853 and was first published in Putnam's Magazine in the November/December issue of that year.

Turkey bartleby the scrivener