Coming of Age Elements in "The Mezzanine"
"Coming-of-age literature explores the transition from childhood to adulthood, often featuring young protagonists who face significant life challenges that prompt personal growth. This type of narrative, sometimes referred to as "Bildungsroman," typically follows adolescents or younger characters as they navigate experiences that force them to confront the complexities of adult life, often through trauma or major life changes."
Nicholson Baker's "The Mezzanine" allows the reader to spend a thoroughly described lunch hour during Howie's corporate work lunch break. Throughout the book, we see Howie, the main character and narrator, tell the reader multiple anecdotes and parts of his life, often along with an occasional tangent on a random topic. Among these anecdotes of his life, two of them particularly stuck out to me because of their similarity to the average coming-of-age story (which I took a semester-long class of last year), these flashbacks into childhood. I mainly saw this happen twice in the book.
The entirety of the book has multiple references to Howie's (then) recently purchased lunchtime snack, a cookie and a half pint of milk which in the end of the book, he eats sat down at a bench, enjoying the sunny day. The first time the "meal" combination is first mentioned is at the start of the book, in chapter one, page 4, where I believe the coming-of-age elements are most prominent. "Earlier that lunch hour, I had visited a Papa Gino's, a chain I rarely ate at, to buy a half pint of milk to go along with a cookie I had bought unexpectedly from a falling franchise, attracted by the notion of spending a few minutes in the plaza in front of my building eating a dessert I should have outgrown and reading my paperback." (Baker 4). In this scene, Howie closes off the sentence by labeling the dessert as something he should have outgrown, likely calling it childish. Earlier in the same sentence, he admits to being attracted by the idea that he later calls childish. He wants to have the experience of eating such a childish dessert again, and admits to thinking it's something he's too old for.
I saw something similar happen later in the book, which was pointed out during class discussion. In chapter four, Howie tells an anecdote about doorknobs, which later branches off into a handful of stories related to his father and ties. "If I asked to borrow a tie, when I was tall enough to wear them, my father was always delighted: he would tour the doorknobs, pulling promising ties out carefully and displaying them against his forearm, as sommeliers hold their arm-cloths. 'Here's a beautiful tie... Now this is a very subtle tie... What about this tie?' He taught me the principal classifications: rep tie, neat tie, paisley tie. And the tie I wore for the job interview at the company on the mezzanine was one he had pulled from a doorknob: [...] When I had dinner with him and other relatives in the first year of my job, I wore the best tie I had bought to date; and as my uncle conferred with the hostess about the table, my father turned toward me, caught sight of my tie, and said, 'Hey, hey-nice,' fingering the silk. 'Is this one of mine or one you bought?' 'I picked this one up a while ago, I guess,' I said, pretending to think back with effort, when in fact I remembered every detail of the transaction; remembered carrying the very light, very expensive bag home not more than five weeks before. [...] As we were all seated at the table, I looked around at my male relatives' ties: at my grandfather's tie and my uncle's tie and my aunt's father's tie- and it was clear to me that my father and I were without question wearing the two best looking ties at the table that night. A sudden balloon payment of pride and gratitude expanded within me. Later still, when I went home to visit, I swapped a tie with him, and when I visited the following Thanksgiving, I spotted what had been my tie hanging over a doorknob in the midst of all the ties he had bought himself, and it fit right in, it fit right in!" (Baker 28).
In the previous scene, Howie seems to look back at the story as what's likely to be a nostalgic and heartwarming moment for him. Children, particularly boys, are commonly seen to hold a slight sense of idolatry for their fathers, often looking up to them as a sort of hero. In this scene, a younger Howie follows his father's footsteps by buying and wearing nice ties, he is shown being proud of having one of the best ties at the family gathering, as he knows it is something his dad takes pride in. Even the final statement, in which he excitedly seems to exclaim that his tie fit along with his fathers', shows that even as he is older, he still hopes to be like his father, a thought he shares with many young children. In both scenes, Howie seems to have child-like thoughts or actions. During a Coming-Of-Age story, it's common for characters to retreat into a childlike state at one or multiple moments throughout their life, which is something I spotted Howie do. And even though I do not believe "The Mezzanine" is a Coming-Of-Age story (especially because Howie is pushing 30 if I'm not mistaken), I think it was cool to see these aspects make an appearance in the book.
Interesting take Samuel! Even though Howie is almost 30 years old, I wonder if he would consider himself to really be "of age". He does say that he's an adult now (he says that he became grown-up at age 23) but then he still has these childish thoughts very often, as you mentioned. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteHowie's excitement as he repeats the line "It fit right in!" (with exclamation points, of course) is so palpable, and that really solidifies the sense of this as a coming-of-age threshold moment. You're right that there's deep symbolic resonance in the scene of a father and son comparing ties--the old quintessential "you're becoming a man now" moment being the father teaching the son to tie a necktie; the necktie as a cultural symbol of adult manhood. When Howie realizes that he knows his father's taste in ties so deeply, and in fact that he SHARES this taste in ties, it really seems to validate his sense of himself as a viable adult. And yet, paradoxically, the same guy who spontaneously eats milk and cookies for lunch also seems endearingly childlike as he virtually jumps up and down with excitement at the idea that his tie fits right in among his dad's ties.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog, Samuel! I like your point that Howie shows childlike tendencies, despite being almost 30 years old. The example about his father's ties shows that he still looks up to his father and cares about what he thinks. I think this shows that growing up doesn't mean leaving absolutely everything behind from childhood. Good job!
ReplyDeleteSuch an interesting post, Samuel! Howie definitely had lots of childlike thoughts. I believe there’s another section in the book where he wonders when the majority of his memories will be from adulthood rather than childhood. He seems to live in this in between where he and others might view him as an adult, and yet he truly still has those childlike tendencies. Even if his “major life changes” are something as simple as standing still up an escalator or brushing his tongue, this could definitely be viewed under the lens of a coming of age novel. Great job!
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