Chapter 2 - Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street Summary

The narrator is a businessman, an aged lawyer of some success, and employs several scribes, or scriveners, to write and copy documents. The scriveners receive their pay on a piecework basis, receiving a set amount for each page written or copied. Their work is peer reviewed before it is accepted and paid for by the narrator. As the narrator's business grows, he finds he needs yet another scrivener to keep up with the paperwork burden. Fortunately, at the same time a young man named Bartleby appears, seeking employment as a scrivener. He is hired, and as office space is somewhat limited, Bartleby receives a corner of the narrator's otherwise private room.

At first, Bartleby works successfully as a scrivener. As time goes on, Bartleby's peculiarities manifest and...