Herman Melville's now famous story "Bartleby the Scrivener". Melville wrote this, just after he wrote Moby Dick.

Bartleby the Scrivener Herman Melville wrote 'Bartleby the Scrivener' towards the end of his declining career. Melville, wrote Bartleby after he wrote his now famous book "Moby Dick". However, in Melville's time Moby Dick was not the hit it is today. Perhaps in Melville's eyes, his career as a writer was not going the way he desired. In order to support his family and continue to earn a living, Melville continued to write novels. It …

…as symbolic. This is why the narrator as well as Bartleby are two crucial characters in this story. Melville probably wished that in his career he were more popular, and had more fame. Melville's work did not reach the audience he intended and made him feel as if his novels were dead letters. When readers, read the story of Bartleby without first analyzing Melville's life, they see a story about the strange condition of humanity.