SOURCE: "'Ah, Humanity': Compulsion Neuroses in Melville's 'Bartleby'," in Studies in Short Fiction, Vol. 24, No. 4, Fall, 1987, pp. 407-15.

In the following essay, Perry contends that the character of Bartleby is not schizophrenic, but neurotic.

Psychoanalytic critics of Melville's "Bartleby" have been remarkably consistent in their diagnoses of the enigmatic scrivener as schizophrenic. Along with the tale's nearsighted narrator, they have isolated Bartleby as a fascinating case study while overlooking the importance of his relationship to the other characters in the tale. The problem with such readings is that, in isolating Bartleby as a psychological aberration, these critics have missed Melville's broader concerns. As we begin on the assumption that Melville constructs a coherent tale in which each character must be understood in the context of the others, it becomes possible to see their common compulsion neuroses. This more inclusive perspective reveals that the tale's structure is based on...