screen, which might entirely isolate Bartleby from my sight, though, not remove him from my voice." The quotation describes how the narrator secludes Bartleby from society. Even his window, usually a form of escape, results in Bartleby being trapped behind another wall, thus reinforcing his total isolation. The irony lies in the fact that the narrator, while trying to isolate Bartleby, becomes affected by it, so much so that he appears almost human. Instead of dismissing him on the spot for refusing to copy, proofread or leave the premises, he tries to find other employment for him, and even considers inviting him to live in his residence as his guest. The narrator develops before our eyes into a caring person, very different from the cold, unsympathetic person at the beginning of the story. "To befriend Bartleby, to humor him in his strange willfulness, will cost me little or nothing, while I lay up in my soul what will eventually prove a sweet morsel for my conscience." The narrator would normally befriend Bartleby or any other "sucker," but Bartleby has given him a conscience. The narrator has realized that a common blemish in a person does not determine the person. In the beginning of the novella, the narrator only cared about his work, but now he realizes that people have a life outside of work, except Bartleby. The narrator then changes into a caring person, and tries to know Bartleby, and his odd ways, even going the extra yard to help him. In the end, the narrator tries to save Bartleby from his doing, Bartleby's undoing, Bartleby's isolation. In conclusion, in real life, the strange are always isolated from the normal. During the 1950's and 1960's, blacks were isolated, or segregated, from society. Now, many people are isolated: retarded, ugly, "uncool," the deformed, and people with contagious, deadly diseases. In Bartleby's time, the strange were looked down upon or ridiculed at (as in Freak Shows), so Bartleby isolate...
