Howie: Ignorant, Naive, or trying to escape?
Throughout the Mezzanine, the main character, Howie, rambles about how interesting and fascinating the small, seemingly unimportant things in life are. He never talks about any big issues or genuinely important events that take place in the world around him. In class discussions, some were quick to question why exactly this was the case. With so many more important topics to discuss in the world around him, why was Howie so ignorant of these problems while writing this book?
A point that came up that I thought was interesting is that Howie is so privileged that he doesn't have to worry about anything important. When this book takes place, there were many important topics at hand, including a lot of social justice movements regarding minorities and the oppressed. Howie is a white man, so it's possible that he just doesn't care about anything like that, as the world was almost made for a man like him. People pointed out that even when he was robbed he didn't really care. He briefly mentioned it and kind of shrugged it off. It is possible that he is so privileged and carefree that he really just didn't care about it all that much. Maybe Howie just has it too easy, too normal to care about anything more in life than a straw or a milk carton.
In my opinion, it could be something else too. I want to give Howie a bit more credit than maybe he deserves, but I don't think that he is really this blissfully ignorant. By going into such depth about these small things in life, I think he is actively trying to avoid writing or thinking about these significantly bigger issues going on in the real world. I think that a good example of this is when he finally sits down to read the book he's been holding this whole time, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. A line in the book reads, "Observe, in short, how transient and trivial is all mortal life; yesterday a drop of semen, tomorrow a handful of spice and ashes" (120). Upon reading this line, Howie immediately shuts the book, and has a very strong reaction, exclaiming "Wrong, wrong, wrong! I thought. Destructive and unhelpful and misguided and completely untrue!"(120). I think this scene shows how Howie really wants to avoid thinking and writing about the deeper and more important questions of life. Getting mugged can be a really traumatic experience as well, but Howie tries to not think about it and only brings it up when he goes on a tangent about watches. I don't think getting mugged and not caring about it is very normal, so I think it's a very likely possibility that he just didn't want to talk about it. Howie loves exploring the small things in the world, and maybe as a coping mechanism, he tries to focus on that rather than bigger issues that concern him or the world he lives in. Maybe he does have hardships and not as much privilege as we think and he uses this book to avoid thinking about whatever he may be going through. You never know.
I also think that it could be a combination of the two. I think that he is most likely aware of the social justice movements and controversy, but would rather not get mixed up in all that. He likes to go on tangents and let his mind race so that he doesn't have to face the harsh reality of the world. In this way, he can keep his blissful ignorance and take advantage of the privilege that he has.
In the end, this is all just speculation. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong. We will never know why he is like this. He could just be a weirdo, who knows? Actually, that's probably why. He's just a weirdo.
I agree with you, I want to give Howie the benefit of the doubt and say that he is not just some white man living in willful ignorance partaking in the benefits of living in a world designed for him, but he is obviously not interested in talking about or concerning himself with larger issues which almost makes his seem like he is not only disinterested but above talking about those issues.
ReplyDeleteI definitely see reason behind your thinking Teo. Howie may simply be a weird guy who likes to zoom in on the most insignificant details in life. Could this be a way to distract himself from bigger issues at hand? Potentially. Like you said, we'll never know. Is he simply a privileged man who has not a care in the world. He does care in a sense, just not about the larger issues. He cares about paper straws and watches, but he doesn't care that his own watch got stolen. He has a sort of mediocre job, although we never really know what job he has it doesn't seem incredibly challenging as he has all the time to think about random things. I guess we'll never truly know what's turning the gears in Howie's head but we definitely know the gears are turning! Great post Teo!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree it is strange to see Howie's lack of attention to important events in his life. I think another thing is L, his partner. It seems weird for a book not to focus on that but at the same time I think it narrows the book's focus and makes it more valuable in some ways.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I really like how you connected Howie glossing over him getting mugged to his general avoidance of hard or deep issues. Now that I think of it, it seems weird that he did not go on a rant about policing and safety in the city, since he is so willing to go off on so many other subjects.
ReplyDeleteI guess I would say that, while I don't think Howie "should" or "has to" raise any particular issues of social significance in his novel--and I thoroughly enjoy his relentless focus on "unimportant but interesting" topics--the novel does serve as a picture of what it means to be an educated middle-class white man in 1980s corporate culture. And what this means is that nothing in his daily experience *compels* him to think about race, or class, or gender, in any kind of critical way. And this blissful freedom is one measure of what we mean by "white privilege"--the privilege entails being free to choose whether you care to think about or engage issues of racism, for example, where a hypothetical Black employee of Howie's firm might encounter unwelcome reminders of race and racism throughout an average day (and have to keep her mouth shut about it most of the time).
ReplyDeleteThe point in my mind is not to criticize Howie--it's just to observe how his gender and race in this particular cultural context enables his mind to be free to wander.
I agree. It feels that Howie is just in his own world and is somewhat secluded from the things that happen in the real world, which causes him to be unaware of certain things. Maybe retreating to his mind is his way of dealing with things that happen in his life and, which is probably why he doesn't delve into certain topics in his thoughts.
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