I actually thought Melville was out to excite his audience with graphic details of whale slaughter. It was all rather tedious.
Advertisement for the whaling industry? Could this be the world’s first example of product placement? 
bartleby.com has “Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street” – Yay for Captain Obvious.
Anyway, the story was published in 1853. Melville died in 1891. It’s long past copyright, mainly because Disney hasn’t made a profit from it yet.
I liked “Bartleby the Scrivener” because I liked the story and I empathized with the title character. He just wanted to drop out and relax for a while, maybe getting some cookies thrown in for good measure. Who could blame him? Maybe he was an autistic. Maybe he was a manic-depressive, and he hit a really big depressive state. I like to think he was bored and just didn’t care anymore.
I can read for symbolism. I enjoy it. But I didn’t read “Bartleby” for symbolism, and none presented.
May I suggest Peter Straub’s deliciously twisted take on “Bartleby the Scrivener,” his novelette “Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff” collected in his book “Magic Terror?” I’m not sure he expands upon any symbolism, but he does take the odd concept of the story to an extreme.
I wasn’t quite sure he wasn’t dancing around the fact.