In class the other day, we began a discussion on if The Mezzanine is an uplifting look on our possible futures or a depressing one. Overall, the class seemed to come to conclusion that it is a depressing look into our future, which is understandable. After all, Howie is working in a corporate office building where he doesn't even seem to care about his work and amuses himself with office supplies and what seems to be complex day dreaming. The ways that he describes what has actually happened in his life may not be outright horrible in that he doesn't have a tragic backstory or really any conflicts that we would call major life conflicts, but his life seems to simply be static. Whenever we see this stereotypical situation in fiction, it's associated with a grouchy main character who hates life. The Mezzanine has a different take, and makes it seem that the protagonist is searching for ways to keep himself occupied. It's almost as if he is using the little things around him as coping mechanisms for the boring life that he has now. After all, it seems almost impossible that anybody could be so enthusiastic about anything as simple as stapler heads. It must be the only thing that he can focus on without feeling absolutely bored out of his mind at his depressing job, right? Well, maybe not.
On the other side of the coin that is Howie's life, perhaps this is an uplifting look on what is in the future. After all, could anyone fake the level of enthusiasm Howie has for the little things in life? It's not just him being overly obsessed over small things, it's also that he enjoys thinking about them and looking into them. The tone that he takes is never just neutral, he is genuinely interested in what he's talking about. Going back to stereotypical fiction and Howie's habitual extreme observations, maybe these aren't just coping mechanisms, but what he really thinks his life is. His life isn't his work, he doesn't want to tell the reader about whatever he's doing at work, he wants to tell us what interests him, and what interests him is what makes his life, life. In a way, it feels like Baker is showing people that even with a job that on the surface is boring, mundane, and dull, that life is exciting and has meaning. That life is not just about whatever you do being some glorious adventure, but it really is about stopping and seeing what is going on in the world specifically around you and appreciating it for what it truly is. If this is what Baker intended, or if it's just the way we approach the book, then The Mezzanine is a very uplifting look into our future, like a safety net of hope saying that no matter what you end up doing in life, it matters and it will be enjoyable even if it isn't in the conventional ways that we are so used to seeing and hearing about.
