27:50-29:20
| “Bartleby,” said I, in a still gentler tone, “come here; I am not going to ask you to do any thing you would prefer not to do—I simply wish to speak to you.” |
| Upon this he noiselessly slid into view. |
| “Will you tell me, Bartleby, where you were born?” |
| “I would prefer not to.” |
| “Will you tell me any thing about yourself?” |
| “I would prefer not to.” |
| “But what reasonable objection can you have to speak to me? I feel friendly towards you.” |
| He did not look at me while I spoke, but kept his glance fixed upon my bust of Cicero, which as I then sat, was directly behind me, some six inches above my head. |
| “What is your answer, Bartleby?” said I, after waiting a considerable time for a reply, during which his countenance remained immovable, only there was the faintest conceivable tremor of the white attenuated mouth. |
| “At present I prefer to give no answer,” he said, and retired into his hermitage.
“Now and then, in the eagerness of dispatching pressing business, I would inadvertently summon Bartleby, in a short, rapid tone, to put his finger, say, on the incipient tie of a bit of red tape with which I was about compressing some papers. Of course, from behind the screen the usual answer, “I prefer not to,” was sure to come; and then, how could a human creature with the common infirmities of our nature, refrain from bitterly exclaiming upon such perverseness—such unreasonableness. However, every added repulse of this sort which I received only tended to lessen the probability of my repeating the inadvertence.”
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This particular clip comes directly from this portion of text where the narrator requests Bartleby to help him tie a bow, however I think that this clip goes beyond just what is actually happening and really talks to the text at large. It is also addressing the 1st portion of text here and many other occurrences in the text, in a very significant manner. In this clip we see the boss/narrator, request a very basic task of Bartleby. The sort of task that most of the time doesn’t even need to be requested as it is so basic and most would not only be willing to help tie the bow, but offering to help. In many people there would just be the obvious inclination to go over and help the man tie the bow, but not Bartleby, and I think this clip truly displays his inactivity. Not only did he not go over to help, when asked upon he said his famous phrase of “I prefer not to”. The reason why I believe that this scene goes beyond the scope of just this one clip and how it truly portrays the above text, is because this is the simplest task he could be requested of and he refuses to help. So too, in the first task he is asked a simple question, to say anything about his life, another very simple and easy task, to which Bartleby refuses. This isn’t a case of a man who doesn’t want others involved in his affairs, this is simply a case of a man who doesn’t want any affairs at all, and potentially speaking of such things would create more affairs and more things to do, which Bartleby actively strives to avoid. Bartleby is a prime example of a man without Agency, but simply saying he doesn’t have agency is an understatement. Bartleby is a man who would rather wither away and do nothing, than be required to do anything.