I can honestly say that I have no idea what the point was of Herman Melville's short story Bartleby the Scrivener. It could have been told in one sentence: "There once was an annoyingly stubborn and useless employee, and then he died."
I will take the opportunity to discuss my favorite character. The Lawyer, also the narrator, seems to be a decent old man. His little nicknames for all of his employees show how much notice he takes of each of them. He took care to get to know each of his employees. He knew their temperaments, their habits, their personalities, etc. He seemed to want a pleasant relationship/rapport with the workers of his firm. He is very observant, mild-mannered gentleman. However, I think one of his flaws was the fact that he always assumed/expected that people would abide by his orders without question. Bartleby startled him so much because he (the Lawyer) has a "natural expectancy of instant compliance" (Melville, 649). Maybe the theme of this story is that, every once in a while, life is going to throw an odd-ball of a person at us just to see how we handle him.
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