Don't you hate it when people ask you to do something and you don't want to do it, but you do it anyway? What if everyone could all be like Bartleby the progtagonist of Herman Melville's short story "Bartleby the Scrivener?" When your parents ask you to clean your room, you say "I would prefer not to." (1374) Or when your boss asks you to turn in paperwork before a deadline, you could say "I would prefer not to." What kind of person would you be if you did nothing?
Bartleby did just that...nothing. He didn't eat. He didn't feel. He didn't work. He had no identity other than "Bartleby, the scrivener." (1363) His attitude and perception of life didn't allow him to be a functional human being. Would you consider a person like Bartleby, who is nonfunctional and vegetative, to be a human being or just an empty body just floating through life?
I believe Bartleby is Melville's way of telling people to examine their lives. Are we "Bartleby" or are we human beings? I think that feeling life is the best part of being human. Don't be just an empty body. Be present and truly live.
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