While reading what can be called a “biography” of Bartleby, I found that Bartleby had a very strange, yet captivating personality. I felt that his emotionless characterization was somewhat a way of shielding his true inner emotions: a sad and depressed human. However, as readers, we don’t realize this until the end of the story. In the beginning, he seems obedient and hard-working. The lawyer applauds his diligence, as he completed “an extraordinary quantity of writing,” but realizes that “he wrote silently, palely, and mechanically” (301). The lawyer’s description is an accurate indication of Bartleby’s work-ethic, along with his true personality. But as time goes on, he becomes more stubborn and responds with “I would prefer not to” to all the tasks that the lawyer asks him to perform. His responses represents his carelessness and disregard of what other people think of him, even when it is towards his own powerful boss, who works on one of the most powerful financial capital, Wall Street. However, the lawyer does not become angry nor agitated, but a sense of curiosity fills his mind. I found this rather interesting since the lawyer is paying Bartleby to work for him, yet he doesn’t lose his temper when Bartleby basically rejects all his requests. Nowadays, someone who disobeys or doesn’t do as they are told, would get fired. Later on in the story, the lawyer discovers that Bartleby lives in the office, which he finds astonishing. I feel that this was one of the big indications that Bartleby was, indeed, depressed and lonely. He probably didn’t have a family, nor anyone to talk to; that is enough to make someone upset and somewhat anti-social.  Once, Bartleby is forced to leave the office, even after the new lawyer has taken over the space, he refuses; further illustrating his stubborn personality. He is then thrown in jail, where we learn that Bartleby previously worked at a Dead Letter office. This aspect of Bartleby’s sad life is an indication of why he is the way he is. Anyone would progressively become dispirited and glum after reading over the deaths of a countless number of people. It could be said that the cause of Bartleby’s internal death, rather than his physical death, was ultimately from sadness, not from being in the jail. But why are the last lines of the story, “Ah Bartleby! Ah Humanity!” (321)? Perhaps, the lawyer feels as if humanity was the cause of his death. In other words, the death of Bartleby was caused by the harsh reality involved with life and that is death.