Bartleby is shown in his most famous line throughout this scene.This line of “I would prefer not to” is present throughout the whole story. In our reality, it is ironic, because if your boss or supervisor asks you to do something and you respond with that statement—you might as well pack your things up. This would not work in both a professional and non professional work environments. First I would like to analyze this statement and then the video itself.
The statement, as mentioned is important, not only because it would be unacceptable in mostly any society, but because it represents a theme of passive resistance. Instead of blatantly saying no to the tasks requested by the lawyer, Bartleby uses his famous phrase. It not only allows him to stay employed but allows him to have a limited set of responsibilities under his domain. He is saying no in a “polite manor” in essence which is quite clever because his boss does not have a solid ground to fire or yell at him. He is in a sense a person who gets to do what he wants which focuses on a theme of nonconforming to society. He is resisting even to aspects of human condition. At the end it is quite evident that he resists to human life as ‘forced’ on to him.
Reading the phrase is one thing—but the full extend of the phrase is evident when this video is watched. At first the lawyer needs help wrapping what seems to be a gift. He asks Bartleby to put his finger on the gift so that he could wrap it. Bartleby is ‘different’ or in a sense not-normal. His strange behavior is his demeanor. In addition his ‘strange’ behavior is just a build up to his phrase. The way he says his phrase is calmly and in the end of the video his passive resistance actually gets him out of doing the job.
