Howie, Offended? No Way!

On page 120 in The Mezzanine, Howie showcases a unforeseen side of his self. Whilst eating a snack nearing the end of his lunch break, Howie breaks open his black Penguin paperback and after a few moments, promptly sets it aside, with obvious discontent.

          I found my place on the brilliant page and read:

                    Observe, in short, how transient and trivial is all mortal life; yesterday a drop of

                    semen, tomorrow a handful of spice and ashes.

          Wrong, wrong, wrong! I thought. Destructive and unhelpful and misguided and completely

          untrue!  but harmless, even agreeably sobering, to a man sitting on a green bench on a

          herringbone-patterned brick plaza near fifteen healthy, regularly spaced trees, within 

          earshot of the rubbery groan and whish of a revolving door... I was nearly tired ready to

          abandon it entirely, tired of Aurelius's unrelenting and morbid self-denial. This latest thing about

          mortal life's being no more than sperm and ash, read two days in a row, was too much for me.

It would seem that Howie, who at first apparently had a good impression of this writing by Aurelius, completely disagrees with the ideas presented. At first it would seem that this irrational reaction is only a simple character development in this novel, but Howie's reaction actually works in harmony with the development of his character so far throughout the novel. The perspective of Aurelius's statement is that each and every one of our lives is insignificant. This perspective holds truth when one holds his/her own life in comparison to the massive universe. While what Aurelius says is harsh but true, Howie believes otherwise. The fashion in which The Mezzanine is written allows readers to get a true grasp on how Howie's mind operates and the readers get a strong impression on how Howie thinks. When Aurelius says life is transient and trivial, readers should not be surprised that Howie begs to differ. From what has been told in the novel, Howie would be the type of person to believe that human contribution and action is extremely pertinent to mortal life. Example: Howie sees even the smallest technological developments as huge steps for mortal life, like the creation of perforation or paper towels. His fascination for these small developments made by humans on Earth (which, when you think about it, it is quite amazing how humans were able to completely peruse natural resources in order to create artificial order) proves his supportive feelings towards mortal life, and shows that he believes that mortal life is actually significant. For this reason, I truly believe that Howie reacts with frustration and annoyance to what Aurelius states because of his personality. 

The Mezzanine: Howie, Your Rare Non-Average Strange Guy in a Suit

The Mezzanine written by Nicholson Baker is a novel with a goal, yet a simple glance at the story says otherwise. The story may seem like just another ride up an escalator, but Baker actually aims to give the reader new, profound insight of themselves, that being that everyone is weird. The protagonist in the novel is known as Howie. He is not your average adult. While I recount the story in my mind, I see him as a grown adult sharing a personality with Curious George. He over analyzes everything, from paper towels to shoe laces. His memories consist of childhood habits which seem alien enough to almost everyone deemed average, and he ambitiously celebrates the things we "normal people" pass as insignificant in life such as perforation and sinking plastic straws. Hopefully this is convincing enough to say that Howie is a strange man. And apparently for Baker, a strange primary character deserves an equally strangely structured novel. 

Instead of the massive land of adventure where protagonists of a novel get to pilfer the caves of mountainsides or solve a crime, this book takes place during the 20 seconds of an escalator ride. Instead of using conflict of the now, Baker uses a basket full of memories and ideas belonging to a character and with it, mixes up a "plot" in which the character's quest is to fix his shoelaces during his lunch hour and his conflicts are with the constant questions that flicker up in his head.

To make this idea simpler, imagine an orange, or any other type of fruit for that matter, in place of this book's literary structure. On the outside, the story is plain and simple: a man's journey following his lunch break up an escalator to the mezzanine where his work awaits. Peel away this bland, bitter, disappointing layer of skin and you find the truly sought out contents (in plentiful amounts) of the story: a collection of memories and thoughts. Finally, right in the center of this chaos, you discover a seed: inedible because it will give rise to future fruits which will also display nothing of significance, yet contain a rich supply of history and ideas.

Let's continue with this analogy and look at this novel more deeply. As I stated, the escalator ride is parallel to the rind of an orange. Both are one-colored and simple (unless you want to be technical and talk about how orange rinds are used in Orange Chicken and such. We are not going to go there). But peel away this layer and you are presented with what makes up the majority of the story/fruit. The story largely consists of unique memories and ideas, all of which are triggered by occurrences and traits of and surrounding this particular ride up the escalator, for example, the loop of motion that the escalator performs triggers memories of being in gas stations watching hot dogs rotate around on the slowly rolling metallic row of metal bars (Page... Somewhere in the book). Similarly, the orange has carpels, each carpel itself, but are shared in the one orange. Finally, in the center there is the main purpose of the story which is to show the impact of your every single experience on your life. This purpose is unique, and also why the analogy to fruit works so well: this plain escalator ride will become a memory in itself, which will be part of the fruits that its seeds create.

For this reason, Howie is not "your rare non-average strange guy in a suit," because all the rest of us are like Howie. Baker wanted us to realize that we are just as strange as everyone else, including Howie. On the outside we may grow, but our memories are eternal, and surely, everyone has embarrassing memories or interesting traits that make them who they are as adults. These memories build on top of each other, creating new memories, ideas, and experiences, similar to one of Howie's thoughts: as we grow, brain cells die allowing for more connections to form with the old brain cells. Nicholson Baker may make Howie seem like the strangest office-worker on the planet, but he writes in hopes that readers realize how similar they are to Howie and to show that we, ourselves are all strange due to growth and experience, all of which expressed in a single memory up an escalator.