Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street by Herman Melville presents the mentally disturbed title character through the perspective of an ignorant narrator. Having previously encountered only visible physical disabilities, the narrator does not know how to respond to a depressed man. Driven mad by Bartleby's favorite phrase, "I'd rather not do it" (Melville 8), the narrator fails to recognize this phrase as what Mitchell and Snyder's Narrative Prosthesis might label a subconscious cry for help, and instead attempts timid attempts to cure Bartleby. When these fail, the narrator oscillates between pity and intolerance, never truly understanding Bartleby's condition and only accommodating him when he believes he has a physical disability. The narrator's inability to empathize with Bartleby's invisible disability and desire to cure him instantly presents a critique of society's ignorance regarding depression and the response to mental disorders. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Melville initially presents his narrator as an elderly man who sympathizes with his physically disabled employees. His copyists Nippers and Turkey both suffer from extremely visible ailments that occasionally hinder their productivity. Turkey, an old man like the narrator, experiences his "[face] burning like a grill full of Christmas coals" (3) every day from noon until evening, drastically affecting his character and ability. Despite the “strange, inflamed, convulsive, fickle recklessness of activity [in Turkey]” (3) that persists for half a day, the narrator considers him invaluable and excuses his disability with the quality of the work he does in the morning. The narrator tries to accommodate Turkey's disability by suggesting he come home after noon, however, Turkey refuses and convinces his boss that his disability does not hinder his ability to do his job. Likewise, Turkey Nippers' colleague also suffers from a visibly noticeable eye disorder. narrator. Nippers indigestion manifests itself as “occasional nervous irritability and irritability with smiles, causing audible gnashing of teeth from errors made in copying; useless curses, hissed more than said... and above all by a continuous discontent with the height of the table on which he worked" (4-5). This irritability and restlessness, although annoying to the narrator, are balanced by his “precise and quick hand; and… gentlemanly behavior” (4) and only afflicts Nippers in the morning, allowing the narrator to empathize with Nippers’ disability and not deem him unfit for work. The physicality of Turkey and Nippers' impairments helps the narrator understand what happens to them and consequently try to accommodate his employees. Despite the narrator's seemingly progressive view of disability, he does not offer Bartleby the same empathy and accommodation that he grants the other scribes. to the lack of visible evidence of impairment. When Bartleby first reveals his boredom and disinterest in performing certain tasks, the other members of his office are confused and unable to understand why. Although the narrator eventually realizes that Bartleby suffers from depression, "the scribe was the victim of an innate and incurable disorder... it was his soul that suffered, and his soul I could not reach" (16), he does not understand Bartleby nor adapts his work, instead taking pity and deciding to fire him. Unlike Nippers and Turkey, whose disabilities are generally ignored due to the quality oftheir work, Bartleby's depression is not considered to be compensated by his excellent writing. Because Bartleby's depression possesses mostly invisible traits, the narrator does not know how to respond due to his unfamiliarity with mental disorders, which causes him to feel repelled by Bartleby and denies him sympathy or helpful assistance. This confusion and ignorance about how to deal with mental disorders causes the narrator to become intolerant towards Bartleby. The lawyer and his employees become angered by Bartleby's common phrase "I'd rather not" (8) and see it as a symptom of lethargy and simply a refusal to do work he doesn't like. However, the sentence itself is not a rejection but simply a statement of his inner feelings about both the specific job and his life perspective. The wording of the sentence shows “the body…calling attention to itself in the midst of its breakdown and deterioration” (Mitchell and Snyder 64). Unable to express his despondency in any other linguistic form, Bartleby's repetition of the phrase reveals his inability to find meaning or interest in any activity, but his colleagues do not understand his situation and mental state to offer support or tolerance. Only when Bartleby shows signs of physical impairment had he offered him help or compassion, “his unprecedented diligence in copying from the dark window during the first weeks of his stay with me may have temporarily impaired his vision. I was touched. I said something to him as a sign of condolence. I mentioned that he obviously did wisely in refraining from writing for a while” (Melville 18). At the mention of a physical handicap, the narrator withdraws his irritation and tries to help Bartleby. The belief that Bartleby may possess a visible disability instantly changes the narrator's perception of him, showing how mental disorders are not considered as hindering or important as physical ones. However, once the narrator begins to suspect that Bartleby has recovered from whatever vision problems he may have experienced, he quickly loses all sympathy for his employee and tries to fire him. When Bartleby refuses to leave, the lawyer loses all patience and begins bombarding him with accusatory questions and considers physical assault (22), once again revealing his intolerance. The narrator then goes crazy trying to determine a way to "solve" his problem with Bartleby, ultimately opting to run away from what he could neither understand nor tolerate. After realizing that he cannot escape this "demented man" (18), the narrator makes several half-hearted attempts to help Bartleby. He first tries to subdue Bartleby by expressing how he is "the cause of great tribulation to [the narrator], persisting in occupying the hall after being dismissed from office" (25). Once this tactic fails, he tries to bargain with Bartleby by offering him several other possible jobs, but he all refuses prompting an irritated outburst from the narrator who then immediately asks "in the kindest tone [he] could assume under such exciting circumstances, "do you want come home with me now - not to my office, but to my house - and stay there until we can make a convenient deal for you at our convenience? (26). However, all of these tactics fail due to the narrator's lack of knowledge on how to help a depressed individual. Once Bartleby is taken to prison, the narrator continues to demonstrate his confusion about Bartleby's mental disorder, but continues to try to help him. Upon arriving at the prison, the narrator tells Bartleby “no reproach is attached to you by being here. And see, it's not.