Bartleby, the Scrivener

Melville grew up steeped in Calvinism, a theology that denies the existence of free will. Has Melville written a story that refutes this deterministic view, which was based on the theory that human nature is “totally depraved? Does Bartleby have free will? Why or why not?

The narrator spends his last interaction with Bartleby attempting to convince the scrivener that the narrator is not responsible for Bartleby’s imprisonment. Who do you think is responsible for Bartleby’s fate, if anybody? Why? Explain using evidence from the text.

First-person narration makes the choice of narrator key in how a story unfolds and events are depicted. How do you think the story would have been different if Bartleby narrated? Or Turkey or Nippers?