Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville

“Bartleby the Scrivener” is a story that features a very peculiar character. Initially, Bartleby is just another scrivener that has come to work in Wall Street. Nevertheless, his constant and bizarre refusal to do any work reveals his identity. “I would prefer not to” is the phrase Bartleby uses whenever his boss requests something from him. This is actually a symbol of Bartleby’s defiance and rebellion towards the apparent meaningless and monotonous life of all scriveners, and all other humans, for all that matter. Thus, whenever Bartleby says “I would prefer not to”, he is actually telling us that we have a choice. In other words, we can prefer or choose not to lead a safe and meaningless existence and instead seek to analyze the purpose of life and by extension, to understand ourselves.