“Ah Bartleby, Ah Humanity” (page 164). This is the key to the short story by Herman Melville “Bartleby, the scrivener”, because it indicates that the image of Bartleby stands as a symbol for humanity on a universal level. This story is appealing for its symbolism. This, in turn, functions as a commentary on society and the working world. Bartleby is a seemingly homeless, mentally disturbed scrivener who gives up on the prospect of living life and …showed first 75 words of 1437 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1437 total…and choose to stop living you will waste away just like Bartleby, and once you give up on life, everyone around you will give up on you in return. In the end I think Bartleby wanted his life to go on without him taking any action to change it. I believe he was afraid of changing himself because he was always the same and he felt safe being himself. Bartleby died preferring not to live.