Bartleby the Scrivener Rules and Order Quotes Page 1
Citations follow this format: (Paragraph)
| Quote #1 All who know me consider me an eminently safe man. The late John Jacob Astor, a personage little given to poetic enthusiasm, had no hesitation in pronouncing my first grand point to be prudence, my next, method. (2) |
This diagnosis is pretty clear – the Narrator is no wild rule-breaker. In fact, he's known for his steadfast adherence to rules and order.
| Quote #2 After a few words touching [Bartleby's] qualifications, I engaged him, glad to have among my corps of copyists a man of so singularly sedate an aspect, which I thought might operate beneficially upon the flighty temper of Turkey and the fiery one of Nippers. (15) |
The Narrator, who places great value upon order and respectability in the office, is initially invested in Bartleby's potential to instill order, rather than contribute to its breakdown.
| Quote #3 Now, what was ginger? A hot, spicy thing. Was Bartleby hot and spicy? Not at all. Ginger, then had no effect upon Bartleby. Probably he preferred it should have none. (34) |
Wow – even natural rules have no effect upon Bartleby. Somehow, the strength of his "preferences" manage to prevent even a physical sensation – the spiciness of ginger – from affecting him at all.
