Bartleby, the Scrivener - Herman Melville

Set in the mid-19th century on New York City's Wall Street, it was also, perhaps, Herman Melville's most prescient story: what if a young man caught up in the rat race of commerce finally just said, "I would prefer not to"?

Free PDF of the short story: https://moglen.law.columbia.edu/LCS/bartleby.pdf