Pathos Party of Two

Near the beginning of Bartleby the Scrivener, Herman Melville uses the narrarator to evoke pathos for Bartleby. "My first emotions had been those of pure melancholy and sincerest pity....I might give alms to his body, but his body did not pain him; it was his soul that suffered, and his soul I could not reach" (Melville, 658).  As summarized by this quote, this pathos is predominantly the result of the apparent loneliness and detachment of Bartleby.What is more, the fact that Bartleby's problems go further than physical sickness but possibly to mental sickness or disorder, intesifiees this pathos. The reader sympathizes with Bartleby for his inability to conduct himself socially and altogether indifference to life. However, as the story continues, the same pathos is evoked for the narrator because the reader begins to see the parallels between the two characters. For instance, the parallels between the characters are initially drawn when the reader realizes that both men are passive and simplistic in their dealing with other people such as Nippers, Turkey, and Ginger Nut. Moreover, at the end of the story, the reader realizes that the fact that Bartleby used to work in  a Dead Letter shop might be a possible cause for his behavior. With the parallels already drawn at this point, this acts a foreshadowing of the narrarator's possible future, for he too works in a job that lacks major purpose. Thus, pathos is evoked for the reader as well.