{"id":"01KG8AK3ENY4Q48KQ2QJ9FH7AP","cid":"bafkreifvpqgajivmb3xt55mh7e4chwwifhhcgdecvtmbgeg76s7e5jctay","type":"section","properties":{"description":"# Escalation of Bartleby's idleness and the narrator's increasing frustration/attempts to dismiss him.\n\n## Overview\nThis section, titled \"Escalation of Bartleby's idleness and the narrator's increasing frustration/attempts to dismiss him,\" is a textual segment from the short story \"Bartleby.\" It spans lines 1140 to 1184 of its source file.\n\n## Context\nThis section is part of the [Bartleby](arke:01KG8AJK1PKEBJJCANV911N8JS) chapter, which is itself contained within the larger digital text file [the_piazza_tales.txt](arke:01KG89J1F4D8P9BBX9AMGZ7TX7). The file is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. It follows the section [Bartleby's first refusals and the narrator's attempts to understand/deal with them.](arke:01KG8AK3EJHGZFAPPMWQ9JDEPM) and precedes the section [Summary of Bartleby's established situation and ongoing peculiarities.](arke:01KG8AK3ENXHRT70AW7QECYYKA).\n\n## Contents\nThe text details the narrator's escalating attempts to engage Bartleby in tasks beyond copying, such as going to the Post Office or summoning another clerk. Bartleby consistently responds with his characteristic phrase, \"I would prefer not to.\" The narrator's frustration grows, leading to a \"blind inveteracy\" and a sense of being \"ignominiously repulsed.\" The section concludes with the narrator, perplexed and distressed, deciding to go home for the day, contemplating \"terrible retribution.\"","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.712Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"Escalation of Bartleby's idleness and the narrator's increasing frustration/attempts to dismiss him.","end_line":1184,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:52.603Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Escalation of Bartleby's idleness and the narrator's increasing frustration/attempts to dismiss him.","source_file":"01KG89J1F4D8P9BBX9AMGZ7TX7","start_line":1140,"text":"I closed the doors, and again advanced towards Bartleby. I felt\r\nadditional incentives tempting me to my fate. I burned to be rebelled\r\nagainst again. I remembered that Bartleby never left the office.\r\n\r\n“Bartleby,” said I, “Ginger Nut is away; just step around to the Post\r\nOffice, won’t you? (it was but a three minutes’ walk), and see if there\r\nis anything for me.”\r\n\r\n“I would prefer not to.”\r\n\r\n“You _will_ not?”\r\n\r\n“I _prefer_ not.”\r\n\r\nI staggered to my desk, and sat there in a deep study. My blind\r\ninveteracy returned. Was there any other thing in which I could procure\r\nmyself to be ignominiously repulsed by this lean, penniless wight?—my\r\nhired clerk? What added thing is there, perfectly reasonable, that he\r\nwill be sure to refuse to do?\r\n\r\n“Bartleby!”\r\n\r\nNo answer.\r\n\r\n“Bartleby,” in a louder tone.\r\n\r\nNo answer.\r\n\r\n“Bartleby,” I roared.\r\n\r\nLike a very ghost, agreeably to the laws of magical invocation, at the\r\nthird summons, he appeared at the entrance of his hermitage.\r\n\r\n“Go to the next room, and tell Nippers to come to me.”\r\n\r\n“I prefer not to,” he respectfully and slowly said, and mildly\r\ndisappeared.\r\n\r\n“Very good, Bartleby,” said I, in a quiet sort of serenely-severe\r\nself-possessed tone, intimating the unalterable purpose of some\r\nterrible retribution very close at hand. At the moment I half intended\r\nsomething of the kind. But upon the whole, as it was drawing towards my\r\ndinner-hour, I thought it best to put on my hat and walk home for the\r\nday, suffering much from perplexity and distress of mind.\r\n\r","title":"Escalation of Bartleby's idleness and the narrator's increasing frustration/attempts to dismiss him."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJK1PKEBJJCANV911N8JS","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1F4D8P9BBX9AMGZ7TX7","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AK3EJHGZFAPPMWQ9JDEPM","peer_type":"section","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AK3ENXHRT70AW7QECYYKA","peer_type":"section","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:53.301Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:53.678Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}