Essay #1

The thesis I chose to do is: "Bartleby is the hero of Melville’s story in his refusal to participate in a workplace that represents the sad, dreary atmosphere of a bureaucratic, industrialized society. He is the only one standing up to a society that is increasingly oppressive to workers."

I chose this thesis because I found a lot of supporting evidence from the text. And I believe that Bartleby's actions from beginning to end of the story were refusals to participate in a workplace that represents a sad industrialized working society. His first refusal to "prefer not" to do something set the tone for the rest of the story. The rest of the events after that were a domino effect of Bartleby's first refusal.