Wall Street Charity

In the story Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville, the subtitle "A Story of Wallstreet" is representative of what the story is even truly about. When this story was being written, Wall Street was just becoming a financial centerpoint in the United States. The materialistic and greedy nature of society at the time was likely what prompted Melville to write a story like this in the first place. It is widely believed that, on Wall Street, money comes first and humanity takes a backseat. This theory could be related to this work. In the story, the lawyer initially is dumbfounded by Bartleby's response to his requests, so he says nothing to him about it, but, later, he begins to feel as though he is only putting up with Bartleby's shinanigans out of charity. As the story moves along, the lawyer grows more and more agitated with Bartleby's behavior and asks him to leave because his presence is making his clients uncomfortable. In this case, the business won out over the lawyers best intentions to provide a charitable service to Bartleby, much like it does on Wall Street.