"Bartelby, the Scrivener" by Melville was about a man who was a copyist. He copied papers for a living and never did more than that. When Bartelby was asked to do more, he always replied, "I prefer not to." Bartelby was finally imprisoned for preferring not to leave his former employers former office. He then died in prison preferring not to eat. Bartelby was never a man of emotion or invention. He never wanted to do anything new or different. His life was filled with his mechanical, repetitive job. His reply, "I prefer not to" became as mechanical as his job as a scrivener. Any question posed to him received the same answer as if Bartelby did not even contemplate the question.
Bartelby had the habit of starring blankly out the window on to the blank brick wall. I think that Bartelby thought of his life as this blank brick wall. The line, "a lofty brick wall, black by age and everlasting shade;" describes Bartelby very well. He was a pale man who was of some years. I believe the brick wall symbolized the end of Bartelby's career but that he prefers not to acknowledge the fact. That is why he did not want to leave the office because if he did his life would be as black and as shaded as that wall.
In the end I think Bartelby wanted his life to go on without him taking any action to change it. He was afraid of changing himself because he was always the same, just like copying, always the same as the original. Bartelby died preferring not to live.
