In my Hum102 class, I read the short story Bartleby: The Scrivener by Herman Melville. In the story, Bartleby was a new scrivener hired by a Manhattan lawyer. Bartleby produced the large volume of high-quality of work compared to the other two scriveners. The lawyer was very impressed by his work because he was a reliable worker. However, one day, the lawyer asked Bartleby to proofread a document, Bartleby responded with the famous words, “I prefer not to”. Soon enough, every time Bartleby was asked to do a job, he responded with the words, “I prefer not to”. So, to the dismay of everyone, Bartleby finished fewer and fewer work until he did no work, but stared at a brick wall just outside the office’s window. Eventually, Bartleby stopped eating and died of starvation. The lawyer did intervene and asked Bartleby if anything happened to his family or to him, but Bartleby did not respond.

One question I have is: why did Bartleby just stop working and show passive resistance by saying “I prefer not to”? If you were the lawyer how would you handle the situation of Bartley? (Hint: Use what we learned in class about motivation)