In The Mezzanine, Howie can be easily considered as the only character. His deepest thoughts about the most intricate details of his life dominate the novel, immersing the reader with their complexity and ingenuity. One of the strangest things I noticed throughout the first few chapters of the novel was the fact that Howie, through his countless observations and rants about seemingly random things, only mentions other "characters" in the midst of the labyrinth that is his thoughts. One mentioned person is his girlfriend, L. This relationship, which seems like it should be a big part of Howie's life, lacks the detail and enthusiasm that we see with other facets of his life.
When L. is first discussed in the novel, I was thrown off guard, as it was the first mention of anyone else in Howie's life with some sort of substance or detail. After reading three full chapters about Howie's views on shoelaces, staplers, and sneakers, it was strange to see Howie bring up another person. However, it was the way that Howie talked about L. at the beginning of chapter three that perplexed me. He doesn't introduce us to L. in any way, only bringing her up as a backstory for the discovery of brushing his tongue, one of his eight major advances in life. Later in this same paragraph, Howie says "soon after I began going out with L., she, shrugging as if it were a matter of common knowledge, told me that she brushed her tongue every day, with her toothbrush." If it weren't for this sentence, I would have had absolutely no idea that L. was Howie's girlfriend. In this paragraph, he discusses her in the same style as he does with his co-workers. There seem to only be emotions attached to the discovery of brushing his tongue, and none towards L. in the slightest. As I read further, I realized that this was the case every time L. was randomly brought up. Howie expresses pure joy and enthusiasm to us when it comes to the intricacy of escalators or the perforations of paper towels, but this seems to be absent in regard to L., his own girlfriend.
Another part of the novel where we are given information about L. that stood out to me was when Howie presented us with his lengthy list of thoughts and their annual frequency in chapter 14. By this point in the novel, I was under the assumption that Howie didn't really care about L., or that their relationship was not as stable as it used to be. But seeing L. at the top of this list (580 times per year, triple the amount of the number 3 spot) surprised me, and led me to think about her in a completely different way. For the entirety of the novel, Howie had talked about L. without any real passion, yet she is the frontrunner of this list. I wonder if he has had all of these thoughts in the past and just doesn't find them exciting anymore, or if he simply takes her for granted. Let me know what you guys think.
Yup, I agree that its pretty surprising Howie attacked cream cheese and olive sandwiches at a much more excited angle than his own girlfriend. Its like he thinks about his girlfriend more than anything else, but he's just so indifferent when talking about her. For me, and most other teenage to middle aged people, a partner is a pretty important part of their life. But Howie's interests certainly aren't normal, and he just lacks passion here.
ReplyDeleteI also found his first descriptions of his girlfriend to be odd. He gives the same level of importance to his girlfriend that he does to his shoelaces. Because of this, it did seem like she must not be important in his life, until the part where he mentions how because him and L swept their apartments at the same time, they must be meant to be. So it does seem lie he cares about her, he just lacks feeling passion in his life and sometimes appears emotionless.
ReplyDeleteI love the ideas you have about L. and I agree with many of them! It's interesting how Howie talks about L. and how Baker chooses to "introduce" L. to the readers. This was also something I noticed while I was reading The Mezzanine. It took me a second when I was first reading this to realize that L. was another important character just because of the language he uses when he refers to her. As you mentioned, it seems that Howie only mentions L. if she is related to a memory, a discovery, or just generally just something he is describing. I think it goes to show how fascinated Howie is about the physical world and the things around him. Great post Nabeel!
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