Video: 0:40-5:00
I thought it was interesting how the video producer made Bartleby look. It matches his personality.
He is tall, skinny, and has bags under his eyes. He is given a sad expression on his face which does not change throughout the entire video. “At first Bartleby did an extraordinary quantity of writing. As if long famish- ing for something to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my documents. There was no pause for digestion. He ran a day and night line, copying by sun-light and by candle-light. I should have been quite delighted with his application, had he been cheerfully industrious. But he wrote on silently, palely, mechanically.” Bartleby never leaves the office– he sleeps and works there 24/7. It is his home. He barely eats, hence why he is portrayed as a skinny character is the video. His boss should be happy that he is such a diligent and hard worker. The narrator also called Bartleby a “perpetual sentry in the corner”– he never left his spot like a soldier stationed to keep guard. We see the stacks of paper that fills up on his desk. He is like a robot that does a mundane task over and over again without stopping. He did his job from sunrise to sunset with no break. In the end, his exhaustion eventually caught up to him. Everyone strives for a job on Wall Street. They would do whatever it takes to land a job there, but Bartleby however is the opposite. He “prefers not to” do the task that is given to him by his boss. There are three other scriveners in the story that are the typical office workers, that listen to their boss and follows all the orders. They eat coffee and donuts.
The video also has no spoken dialogue which I thought was interesting. It correlates to the fact that Bartleby doesn’t say that many lines throughout the story. The music in the background also makes it sound haunting and scary towards the end when Bartleby commits suicide. The scenes where he is electrocuted and put through a paper shredder symbolizes his depression and emptiness. The wall that is outside his window symbolizes the prison that he feels like he is in. He is like a prisoner in the office, like many Wall Street workers feel like also. He often stares out the window which symbolizes his isolation and deteriorating health.