Answer:
"Imagine my surprise, nay, my consternation, when without moving from his privacy, Bartleby in a singularly mild, firm voice, replied, “I would prefer not to.”
This is using humor to express how it upset the main character when Bartleby said he would prefer not to [be reasonable]. Its impact on the reader is that it leads them to view Bartleby as sort of foolish by mocking something he said, making it seem outlandish and unreasonable.
Explanation:
This is my best guess - I did a lot of looking through websites online and I cannot read the entire short story tonight because it is 30 pages. I got this quote from a website, shown in the attached image, and did my best to answer all parts of the question.
I really hope this helps and that this answer is correct. Best of luck to you
