Bartleby the Scrivener and Other Stories characters

Appears from the start

An elderly Wall Street lawyer who handles the quiet business of property documents. He narrates Bartleby's employment and tries to understand the copyist through a mixture of self-interest, irritation, pity, and genuine concern.

Appears from the start

A pale, reserved copyist hired by the lawyer. At first he produces an extraordinary amount of work, but he soon answers requests to compare documents with a calm refusal and gradually withdraws from every expected office duty.

Appears from the start

An older copyist whose productivity and temper vary with the hour: he works steadily in the morning but becomes red-faced and error-prone after lunch.

Appears from the start

A younger copyist troubled by indigestion and restless ambition. His irritability is worst in the morning, complementing Turkey's afternoon decline.

Appears from the start

The office boy, named for the small cakes he regularly fetches for the clerks. He runs errands and supplies a practical link between the copyists and the world outside the office.

First appears in chapter 2

The householder who narrates The Lightning-Rod Man. During a violent storm he admits a traveling salesman, listens to an elaborate warning about lightning, and resists the visitor's attempt to turn fear into a sale.

First appears in chapter 2

An itinerant seller who arrives during a thunderstorm carrying a lightning rod. He presents himself as an authority on electrical danger and tries to make the householder accept both his instructions and his protection.

First appears in chapter 3

A celebrated architect and inventor entrusted by an Italian city with building a monumental bell tower. Brilliant, proud, and secretive, he treats workers and civic officials as obstacles to the perfect realization of his design.

First appears in chapter 3

A laborer in Bannadonna's foundry whose dispute with the master ends in a fatal blow. His death becomes inseparable from the ominous reputation of the great bell cast there.

First appears in chapter 3

The civic authorities who commission the tower, grant Bannadonna unusual freedom, and later prepare a public celebration of the finished work. Their admiration is mixed with unease about the inventor's secrecy and unchecked ambition.