Bartelby, the Scrivener- Alienation Unit

Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville brings me a sense of sadness and in a weird way a sense of warmth. Bartleby's character is somewhat bizarre with his weird obsession for being at work....or so we think. A homeless person, like Bartleby, has to be desperately poor in order to live at the place where he works. I guess it is really hard to imagine such a life. We take what we have for granted and all Bartleby had was work, work, and more work. Living a life like that would be 1) very solitary and depressing and 2) sad. I find warmth in this because I imagine myself being able to go to Bartleby's office and hugging him and taking him to a shelter. Poverty is a weakness and something I would like to someday try to combat. Bartleby was harmless although he was put in prison for not wanting to leave his "home", "Being under no disgraceful charge, and quite serene and harmless in all his ways, they had permitted him freely to wander about the prison..." [Melville, 672]. Bartleby eventually died in the prison and I like to think it was because he was in solitude and missed being in the comfort of the office he called home.