After the Lawyer fires Bartleby, he gives him six days to prepare to leave the office. At the end of those six days, he says goodbye to Bartleby and uses a simile to capture Bartleby’s lack of reaction:
"I shall not see you again; so good-bye to you. If hereafter in your new place of abode I can be of any service to you, do not fail to advise me by letter. Good-bye, Bartleby, and fare you well.”
But he answered not a word; like the last column of some ruined temple, he remained standing mute and solitary in the middle of the otherwise deserted room.
The simile here—in which Bartleby is compared to “the last column of some ruined temple” due to the way he remained “mute and solitary in the middle of the otherwise deserted room”—is evocative. This is one of the many examples of Bartleby’s use of passive resistance in the story. He doesn’t become angry, yell at the Lawyer, or otherwise fight back but simply remains right where he is, refusing to move. The simile is also apt since, later in the story, the Lawyer will move offices, taking all his other employees with him, and Bartleby will be the only one who remains (similar to the final column that remains standing amongst ruins).
It is notable that despite Bartleby’s refusal to perform his duties as an employee, the Lawyer still offers to “be of any service” in helping Bartleby find a new living or work situation—one of the Lawyer’s many attempts at offering charity to the man (often from a place of guilt).
