In my exquisite film adaptation of "Bartleby the Scrivener," my primary change in plot would lie in the inclusion of several flashbacks of Bartleby's work in the Dead Letters Office of the Postal Service. Through his flashbacks, the audience would learn of the events that led Bartleby to appear at the narrator's law firm. We discover that Barlteby has been searching for a brother which he was separated from as a young child. He works at the Postal Service in an attempt to locate his brother. He even seeks help from his fellow workers, who help search for his brother for years. In the penultimate flashback, he is finally confronted by his boss, who rather brutally tells Bartleby that he will never find his brother and that he should simply give up his search.
Throughout the movie, the parallels between the narrator's and Bartleby's manners should be subtly evident (as it is in the story), yet over the course of the movie, the narrator should be getting more and more frustrated and hostile toward Bartleby, finally resulting in the narrator's upheaval of his law firm to escape the nuisance of Bartleby. When Bartleby dies in his prison, the narrator notices a piece of paper which has been in Bartleby's breast pocket from the beginning of his work in the law firm. The narrator takes the paper, reads it, and discovers that it is an e-mail from one of Bartleby's co-workers, stating that he has found the name and address of Bartleby's brother; the narrator then realizes that he is Bartleby's long-lost brother, making Bartleby's motives for his odd refusal to leave the law firm clear. The movie ends with a final flashback of Bartleby leaving to find his brother, confident that he will be warmly accepted, causing a poignant case of dramatic irony as the audience realizes that it was the narrator's hostility toward his own brother that resulted in Bartleby's distance.
Point of View
The point of view of the film adaptation would remain largely unchanged from the short story. The film would be told primarily from the narrator's point of view, with nearly all of the present action occurring from his perspective, as the the story is told. However, Bartleby's flashbacks will obviously occur from his own perspective. A few additional scenes, such as Bartleby's arrest and incarceration, will also occur from Bartleby's perspective. In this sense, the point of view shifts from a limited third person to an omniscient third person point of view. While this maintains a degree of mystery around Bartleby's character, it also helps the audience connect with this mysterious character. At the same time, the connection between Bartleby's search and his presence at the law firm is still unclear until the very end, so the mystery factor is still present.
Characterization
The characterization in the movie would actually be largely similar to that of the short story. The narrator's character will be almost solely developed through his interactions with Bartleby. Bartleby, however, will be developed through both his interactions with the narrator and his flashbacks. This change will provide Bartleby with more depth, causing the audience to sympathize with him more. The foil characters of Nippers and Turkey would likely be exaggerated into a bit of a comedic duo, providing comic relief. Ginger Nut would probably be developed more as a friend to the narrator, giving him a character with whom he can talk and reflect on Bartleby. This will provide a source for the narrator's reaction to Bartleby to flow from.
Setting
The setting would be decidedly modern, taking Melville's idea of a contemporary law firm and transposing it to our own contemporary era. Because of the modern twist to it, the characters' occupations are altered slightly. The narrator is a lawyer, probably the head of his firm. Ginger Nut, once just a paper boy, is now the other lawyer of the firm, given nearly equal status to the narrator. Nippers and Turkey are paralegals working under the narrator; this is also likely the profession which Bartleby will take upon his reception of a job. In keeping with Melville's subtitle of "A Story of Wall Street," the action will take place in modern New York City. Bartleby's flashbacks, however, occur in the Minneapolis area, as one of the two current Postal Service's mail recovery centers (the descendants of dead letter offices) is located there. The general setting, however, would remain largely the same in the film. The plot is meant to take place within a legal setting; the film follows this intention.
Theme
With the change in plot comes a relatively large change in theme. In Melville's original story, the theme of the story focuses on Bartleby's emotional indifference as a result of his work in the Dead Letter Office, but it also focuses on the narrator's own emotional indifference as a result of his work within the legal system. Yet the film's explanation of Bartleby's past--particularly with the revelation of the Bartleby and the narrator's kinship--elevates the theme to a different level. Bartleby's flashbacks reveal that his lonely work amid the letters of a million lives causes Bartleby to become relatively reclusive and withdrawn. Yet when he learns of his brother's location in the final flashback, he chooses to travel to meet him.
When asked by a coworker how he will introduce himself to his brother, Bartleby states that because he is still slightly socially inept and therefore afraid to initially introduce himself as his brother, he will find a way to get to know him first, and when his brother has accepted him as a friend, he will then introduce himself. The coworker raises doubt, asking, "But what if he doesn't accept you?" Bartleby then replies with the last line of the movie: "We're brothers; how could he not accept me?"
At this, the camera shows the narrator once more, looking at the email with his name on it in shock. His hand shaking, he takes out his wallet and pulls out an old photo of a young boy, then compares it to Bartleby and weeps. This final scene emphasizes a newly presented theme of the narrator's own hardheartedness as a result of his legal work. He had become so heartless and cold that he cut off his own brother, resulting in his death. While the movie maintains the story's theme of emotional emptiness, it extends it to show the consequences of such emotional depravity.
And with that, I accept my Oscar win for best screenplay. Thank you all.
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