In “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville, the setting contributes to the tone, style, theme and particularly the characterization of Bartleby, a scrivener working for the narrator . The parallelism between the setting and Bartleby's attributes is suggested in the description of the prison yard, where Bartleby is confined. When Bartleby is imprisoned for vagrancy, the narrator visits him and is directed to the court. The description of the court reflects both Bartleby's desolate mental and social state as well as his passive resistance against the narrator and what he means. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The story recounts Bartleby's meeting with the narrator, his employee. The narrator chooses to tolerate Bartleby's preferences until they interfere with his work; the narrator is then forced to fire Bartleby and move his office. This dismissal later results in Bartleby's arrest as a vagrant and initiates the scene in the prison yard, where the narrator goes to visit him. Bartleby's isolation and desolate mental state are illustrated by the author's depiction of prison. The prison yard is surrounded by walls “of incredible thickness, preventing all noise behind them,” and “the masonry weighed down on me” (556). This description paints a powerful image of isolation. The author also uses the image of a pyramid, known as an enclosed and isolated space for burials, to describe the prison and further enhance the effect. The images of confinement and isolation in the prison yard echo earlier images in the story. When Bartleby first arrives at the office, the narrator sets up a workspace for him that places him facing a view of the wall from the neighboring building and uses a "large green screen... [to] isolate Bartleby..." ( 536). The office setting, in which Bartleby gradually isolates himself from others by erecting a sense of walls, is taken to the extreme in the courtyard, where he achieves a form of complete isolation. It is a form of confinement that the narrator interprets as an indication of madness: “I [the narrator] think he is a little disturbed” (556). There is therefore a link between the framework and the state of mind. The physical setting, characterized by insulating walls and darkness, echoes Bartleby's mental state as the narrator perceives him, that is, as deranged. The setting reveals not only Bartleby's mental state but also his social state. Bartleby's position in the prison yard, isolated from other prisoners, as noted in the passage "the yard... was not accessible to ordinary prisoners", suggests that he has reached the height of social isolation (556 ). This is also reinforced by his refusal to converse with the narrator (544). Indeed, throughout the story, Bartleby has consistently withdrawn from society, an alienation that manifests in his treatment of space and setting. His cubicle becomes more isolated and he prefers to work alone. However, this estrangement from society is not just a general estrangement from the people around him; Bartleby also isolates himself from the values ​​of this society, which are inherently capitalist and upheld by the narrator. The narrator is a lawyer and a rich man who believes in the American capitalist system. Jacob Astor, America's first millionaire, is the narrator's hero. When Bartleby isolates himself through strategic spatial development, he actually refuses to follow Wall Street norms in the same way that he refuses to “copy” the documents (546). Indeed, Bartleby's spatial isolation in the prison yard begins to suggest different implications,.