Short Story as a genre of literature flourished more in America in the 19th century than any other country in the world. It b ecame a national art form as almost all the important writers of the 19 th century in America wrote short stories; many began their literary career as short story writers. But earlier writers such as Irving Washington and Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote allegoric al stories, whereas Poe and Henry James relied on gothic elements for their writing. It was in the latter half of the 19 th century that American writers came up with ‘modern short stories ’ – stories that depicted ordinary man and his problems. Herman Melvi lle in his famous short story “Bartleby , the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street ” depicts how the capitalist system exploits an ordinary worker. The present paper tries to study the story from Marxist perspective; it shows how the social system is controlled and manipulated by the rich and powerful to exploit ordinary people for their benefit