"I would prefer not to."
Battleby is quite strange. His vocabulary is limited, consisting primarily of the words "I" "would" "prefer" "not" and "to." This character puzzles me but he also brings me joy. This sort of dry humor appeals to me. I can imagine a classmate, when asked to read or pray, say calmly "I would prefer not to." It would get better because that person's response would remain the same and people's frustrations would grow. On another note, how does Bartleby maintain a job? He basically says no to any sort of command. In the real world, I imagine an employee saying "I would prefer not to," and then the boss say "ok, you're fired." Maybe a good firing is what Bartleby needs.
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