Herman Melville wrote about Bartleby in Bartleby the Scrivener and in The Dead Letter Office. The Dead Letter Office is a post office in Washington, DC where letters get stuck because they were unable to reach the destinations to which they were sent. So those to whom they were sent never received them. Bartleby's job was to collect these letters and later burn them. In Bartleby the Scrivener, Bartleby no longer works in the dead letter office; he now works for a lawyer. "Dead Letters And Dead Men: Narrative Purpose In 'Bartleby'" written by Thomas R. Mitchell and "Melville's Bartleby, The Scrivener" by Todd Giles are both critical articles in which the authors point out different meanings of "Bartleby the Scrivener " regarding Bartleby. to a dead letter. There is great significance in the story between Bartleby and the Dead Letter Office as it plays a big role on Bartleby's character, such as not being an average worker, lost and antisocial, comparing Bartleby to a letter dead. An example of left behind office work playing a role in Bartleby's character is that Bartleby is not an average office worker, he is a weird guy that no one likes, who doesn't do his job and spends hours sitting watching when. When asked to do something, he responds with "I would rather not do it." There's no real argument with someone who doesn't give you much to argue with. Yet, "Bartleby is improper, without property, without possession,". while maintaining complete control of his own possession" (Giles). He tends to keep to himself instead of letting others know more about him. Nothing is known about Bartleby, except what is known can see and understand; like his name, or that he never leaves the office...... middle of paper ......d, and left as he is. cared to spend his time trying to open it and read its story, "Bartleby, like the rumor of the dead letter office, is that which never arrives in any form of quantifiable totality" (Exactly how them). letters are left after their arrival at the dead letter office, this is how Bartleby planned to stay after leaving the dead letter office until the narrator becomes attached to Bartleby without really realizing it; fact that the narrator does not want to leave Bartleby and that Bartleby does not leave the world as he did: 329. Literary reference center. Internet. November 17, 2013. Giles, Todd. “Bartleby, Melville’s Scrivener.” Explainer 65.2 (2007): 88-91. MLA International Bibliography. Internet. November 8. 2013.