The Mezzanine
was written years after the story happens, but yet the narrator (Howie) remembers such
little things as his thoughts on staplers in great detail. This makes me wonder
why he, years into the future, can still recall the wanderings of his mind so
explicitly; unless he has impeccable memory there has to be something special
about this lunch hour to warrant the preservation of it in his brain. What
could have happened in that lunch hour that would make him want to remember it?
Nothing crazy happened plot wise: it’s not like the escalator (gasp!) broke down!
Not all, but a lot of Howie’s thoughts are torn
between a fond nostalgia of his childhood and/or pride over the “eight main
advances” of his adult life (Baker, 24). The difference is that Howie is
looking back at his childhood but talking about his actions in the adult world; when Howie is
talking about tying his shoes he is a kid making adult developments but now he
is fully independent. This makes me think that this day, specifically this
lunch hour, is the day Howie realizes he is an adult. He has crossed the line
where his childhood is something to remember and apply to his new adult life. I
think the roller coaster like journey of The Mezzanine illustrates this
process.
I think there’s also a sense of disappointment at how
his life turned out, or maybe more of a restlessness. Howie has such awe of
everyday objects in his life, shown when he says “Perforation, shout it out!,
but mixed in with all his enthusiasm is a lack of excitement about his career
(Baker, 74). Maybe this dull office job isn’t what Howie had dreamed of in his
life; maybe he wanted to spend all his time researching shoelace technology or
stapler safety. I think that eventually Howie realized he wasn’t doing what he
loved and went off to go pursue something different, that he was more
passionate about.
It's really interesting that you talk about Howie and how he might've realized that he wasn't doing something he loved. While reading The Mezzanine, we are so focused on these shared experiences of spreading butter on toast or stapling stacks of paper, that it can be difficult to also keep in mind Howie's character motivations. We learn a lot about his thoughts on milk cartons and his fantasy with the store clerk slipping in a note to some magazine that he'd buy, but there's so much we don't know about him. What does he even do anyways? Why is he focusing on this particular day with such detail? I think your exploration of these questions is great.
ReplyDeleteWell, not day. More like hour.
DeleteI love your post, Kat! There are so many great topics to choose from, but I can't stop thinking of what Howie's reaction to a broken escalator would be! I can imagine an entire novel focused on how he had to walk up the stairs, and the yellow broken tape was placed incorrectly and the inventor of escalators would have been disappointed. It would make for a hilarious comedy, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteI like your idea about this particular lunch hour taking place in the same day as Howie finally realizes he has taken the leap from being a child to being an adult. Since he is looking back on this day from at the least, a couple of days later, if not some years later, I wonder how Howie has come to terms with the fact that he is no longer a child? I think we can see a bit from his nostalgia in the book that he isn't too happy about this life event, but also maybe this feeling has progressed and he has come to better accept the fact that he is an adult?
ReplyDeleteYour comment brought a really interesting thought to mind in terms of comparing "Mrs. Dalloway" and "The Mezzanine." We discussed on Friday how Clarissa does not necessarily feel happy with where her life is at at the moment, and the question of how Howie has come to terms with the fact that he is no longer a child seems to correspond with that. In the time span of "The Mezzanine," Howie is discovering this idea that he is no longer a child, which is of course, not the same thing is realizing he isn't happy with his life, but as Kat discussed above, Howie is possibly also realizing that he isn't doing something he loves, and this novel leads him to quit his job and finds a new, better one. The idea that Howie has this realization and then moves on with it to do something better makes me eager to continue reading Mrs. Dalloway and find out if she makes a similar decision later on.
DeleteI actually really like the idea that the two novels we've read so far both go so in depth into a person's thoughts and memories and that both of them seem to be unhappy with the life they've had so far. Is that just a coincidental similarity between Howie and Clarissa? Or are everyday thoughts such a mixture of happy and sad trivial details that anyone can seem to be unhappy with where they are in life and that books with these hyper-detailed thoughts just make the reader question/ consider that more.
DeleteThis is a very interesting point about his memory. However, I think that with how enthusiastic Howie is about everyday things, nothing especially interesting from an outward perspective would have to happen for him to remember this particular lunch hour.
ReplyDelete