"As if long famishing for something to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my documents. There was no pause for digestion...."See in text(Bartleby, the Scrivener)
Many of the story’s metaphors draw on food and consumption. When Bartleby first arrives at the lawyer’s office he “gorge[s] himself on… documents.” As the story progresses, his hunger, both for work and for food, fades. In many ways, greed and consumption serve as a thematic backdrop appropriate to the Wall Street setting, where economic interests reign supreme. Bartleby is a complete outsider in his literal and figurative lack of appetite.
