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.
I agree with most of your points; Howie shows throughout the book that no matter what you are doing in your life, you can always find joy from the things around you. It seems to argue that just by being alive and having senses, you can get a great amount of joy from life. I think especially when you look at the fact that Howie was reading the Penguin Classic during his lunch hour, which portrays a depressing philosophy that seem to contradict Howie's, it seems all the more likely that Howie is truly happy and the point of the book is to show us that.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your final conclusion -- The Mezzanine has a very positive message in the end. Howie's endless positivity tells the reader that they have nothing to fear in life. However, I think this message can be somewhat difficult to obtain through simply reading the book. On the surface, it's very easy to be intimidated by the sheer dullness of mundane topics such as shoelaces. In my opinion, it really does originally send the message of "this is adult life, and it's gonna suck." It's hard to get past the idea that Howie isn't being driven out of his mind with boredom and that's why he's so enthusiastic about perforation. But once you do, it's worth actually thinking about, because Howie's way of going about life is to notice the beauty in everything -- a truly uplifting message.
ReplyDeleteGreat point! I would argue Howie's optimism and value in the trivial transcends just him. Maybe the Mezzanine points out the there is value in almost everything from the complexity and thought imbedded in everyday objects, but Howie is just the person observing all of this complexity in everyday items, With a society of millions of people designing and doing all sorts of things each with their own point of view you could argue the complexity in the "mundane" is already there.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the second paragraph. I don't think Howey is depressed. To me he never seems unhappy, he never had very depressing thoughts. I think that Howey is content with his life. He does find very simple things like a stapler very interesting and while that might be depressing to us, to him it is what he loves to think about. Like you said Howy appreciates the world around him, so how could be be depressed? His optimism is inspiring because I wish I was as interested in the things going on around me as he is. I don't think about the everyday things that effect my life like Howey does.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the idea that Howie is not depressed or seems interested in things around him/wants to talk about them because he is bored. However, I think that the idea that he sees everything in a new light is just his natural curiosity and he just kind of has this innocent wonder that he tries to share. He is not necessarily looking to show us what all things truly are, he's trying to twist that idea into new and impossible ways that only someone who is looking at it for the first time can see. He's like collecting rocks and showing how if you splash water on them, they sparkle. To some, it's a rock, which is what's on the surface, what it actually is. To Howie, however, it is a unique work of art.
ReplyDelete