What concerns does the narrator have regarding Bartleby in the story "Bartleby the Scrivener"?

Carl Jung, famous psychiatrist and long-time associate of
Sigmund Freud, coined the terms “introvert” and “extravert” which quickly became part of
all modern languages. Possibly the best example of an introvert in all literature is
Herman Melville’s Bartleby, who works as a scrivener, a
law-clerk whose chief duty is to make exact copies of important documents in the days
before the unrelenting Industrial Revolution destroyed many dreary but formerly secure
office jobs by producing photocopy machines, word processors, scanners, and fax
machines. Melville’s short story “Bartleby the Scrivener” has received considerable
attention from critics searching for its “meaning.” But
Melville, like Moliere in “The Misanthrope,” may only have
meant to call attention to the fact that such people as extreme introverts exist, not
only in convents and monasteries, but in law offices and everywhere
else.

Bartleby’s job is ideal
for a man of his introverted personality type. The work can not only be done in complete
isolation but actually requires solitude because of its exacting nature. Interruptions
or distractions could cause the scrivener to make mistakes, which would not only
jeopardize the accuracy of the document but even jeopardize the outcome of a legal case,
since lawyers characteristically seek flaws in their opponents’ evidence and can make
much out of a punctuation mark. Melville’s intention may be
deduced from the interest readers have shown in this particular story.
We are interested in Bartleby as a character because we
recognize him as an example of introverts we have personally known, perhaps even as a
caricature of ourselves.

Perhaps what we like about
Bartleby is that he refuses to pretend to be anything other
than what he is. He is a sort of introvert-hero, and we other introverts only wish we
had his courage. The narrator of Melville’s story is a
quintessential extravert, created, no doubt, to serve as a foil to his
employee.

Bartleby
is an introvert who, unlike most introverts, is true to himself. He refuses to pretend
to be like his employer or his three co-workers, who are all—let’s face it—fools. They
all react violently to Bartleby because he is a silent
reproach to them. He makes them aware of their pettiness, and of their mortality,
although he probably hasn’t the slightest desire to do anything of the
kind.

Melville’s story shows
how extraversion is so important in America and how introverts are often disliked and
feared. Bartleby differs from most introverts in that he
cannot and will not change or even pretend to change. It is the narrator who undergoes
the change. The poor narrator almost seems like Coleridge’s ancient mariner who has to
keep on repeating his story because he feels it is so essential to get every detail
right, hoping perhaps that someone else will understand it and then explain it to
him.