Bartleby and the White Man's Burden Attitude

As I read Herman Melville's Bartleby, the Scrivener, I couldn't help but notice how the narrator seemed awfully entitled. The narrator of the story is a lawyer who has employed three copyists, Turkey, Nippers, and Bartleby, as well as an "office boy" called Ginger Nut. Although this story was published decades before Rudyard Kipling's The White Man's Burden, it seems as though the narrator possesses this kind of mentality.

For example, the narrator obsesses over Turkey's appearance saying that his clothes "look oily and smell of eating houses." The narrator is especially concerned about Turkey's coat and thinks that it isn't fit for an Englishman like himself. The narrator decides to take matters into his own hands and gives Turkey "a highly respectable coat" from his own closet. Expecting Turkey to appreciate the gesture, the narrator is surprised when this act instead makes Turkey angry and "insolent."

The narrator likes to portray himself as pious and kind man, but in reality I felt as though he looks down upon his employees and thinks he is better than they are. By giving Turkey a "respectable" coat it is almost as if the narrator is trying to civilize his employee. Also, the fact that the narrator refers to his employee's with unflattering nicknames shows that there is a lack of respect from the employer.