However, rather than flat-out refuse his boss’s requests (which would likely lead to his dismissal), Bartleby uses a strategy of passive resistance, which, for a long time, allows him to both stay employed and keep his daily tasks within the limited set of responsibilities he finds acceptable. This is a delicate balance, and usually, when the scale of the employee-employer relationship tips too far to one side, either the employee becomes fed up with the job’s requirements and quits, or the employer becomes fed up with the employee’s disobedience and fires them. Initially, Bartleby’s resistance seems to exist within a fairly common capitalist struggle: an employer ( The Lawyer, the story’s unnamed narrator) wants to get the most utility out of his employee, and the employee (Bartleby) wants only to do the parts of his job he feels like doing.
In short, Bartleby’s story is one of passive resistance, in which he refuses to do anything that he would prefer not to do. Always polite, never aggressive, Bartleby says “I would prefer not to” to an ever-increasing range of things as the story progresses. Bartleby’s frequently repeated motto, “I would prefer not to,” echoes throughout the narrative.
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