American Literature / Unit 8 AML 0727 short lesson, about 20 seconds
"I would prefer not to"
Captions available
The idea
Bartleby's formula is neither refusal nor consent, and its grammar is what defeats everyone: preference cannot be argued with the way disobedience can. Readings of the story as a protest against office work, as a portrait of depression, and as a parable of passive resistance all start from that sentence.
In practice
Preference, where refusal was expected.
Where people slip
Those are readings, and stay readings.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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