Bartleby the Scrivner

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…dies curled up against a prison wall of "amazing thickness" (p. 1009). This symbolic interpretation of Wall Street is exemplified in the lawyer's analysis of his employee's characters. Whatever his own aspirations, the lawyer obviously cannot afford to employ scriveners other than those who are themselves at the bottom end of the scale. For all the comedy of the lawyer's descriptions, the image of them treading water in the effluent of the cistern (system) is inescapable.