Women in The Mezzanine
We think of The Mezzanine as a book
about Howie (which it is, of course, the main character is Howie), but I think
we forget a lot of the “background” characters in this novel, and how Howie
acts around them. As I was reading the book, I couldn’t help but notice a
certain trend as to how Howie interacts with women vs men.
In general, men in Howie’s mind are
seen as total equals – competition in the workplace, people who exert social
pressure, people who are powerful, confident, and serious. This can be seen I
think especially in their greetings: In general, any time Howie meets men
around the office, there seems to be a sort of respectful thing they all do
with their greetings - “How’s it going” or “What do you think”- something
casual but in it’s tone feels like it’s reserved only for men. I would be
willing to bet that Howie wouldn’t greet a female coworker with a phrase like
that. I think it sets a tone of “men are more serious” throughout the book, in
part because of these greetings.
Women are two things: silly,
sexual, or a combination of the two. For example, the girl at the cash register
from who Howie buys magazines (page 7 footnote 1) – at first he almost makes
fun of her embarrassment, as she red-facedly slips the magazine into a discrete
bag, making her out to be just some silly register girl. But then, she begins
writing him little notes in the magazines, turning the relationship into a
sexual one.
Although all of the conversations
he has in this book are often trivial – saying hi to someone at work, talking
about the weather, etc., they seem especially content-lacking and have a
different tone when he talks to women. Let’s compare two conversations Howie
has in his office: one with Tina, a secretary, and another male coworker. With
Tina, he describes their conversation as “light and dismissible” (page 33), and
in general, the conversation, to me, had a tone of “look at this silly woman
getting excited over her poster”. In fact, during the exchange, it feels like
he’s more interested in the self-inking date stamper than anything Tina has to
say. Not to mention that one of the offhand things he mentions about Tina is
that she “flirts mechanically” with him. That immediately gives her character
an emphasis: a married woman who is so used to flirting with her male coworkers
that she does it mechanically.
Compared to another equally light
conversation with the unnamed elevator man cleaning the handrail (page 63). The
length of the conversation itself is about the same – maybe lasting a few
minutes in both cases, and the contents are pretty similar too: both mainly
about Ray and the poster. But throughout this conversation, there is more of a
tone of respect. With Tina, as they are talking Howie’s mind wanders all over
the place – thinking about Tina’s overly-feminine cube, the politics of
poster-signing, and so on. With the elevator man, Howie focuses on the
conversation, without much more going on in his mind.
All of these were just observations
I made while reading the book, but I do think they are telling not only as to
Howie’s character, but also to the time period. The 80’s, although recent
history, were still quite different in terms of the perception of women,
especially in the workplace.
I like the point you make about Howie's attitudes towards women. I also noticed these theme relating to Howie's interactions with women both in his work and outside (like the cashier lady). I remember having to keep reminding myself that the book comes from a different time period, because Howie's interactions were affecting my views of him as a character and it was hard to separate the two. I also noticed this theme when he mentioned his girlfriend L.. First of all he doesn't mention her a lot in his narration of his day, and when he does I did notice that he always had something negative or condescending to say about her, which again speaks to the character of Howie.
ReplyDeleteThroughout this whole novel I was thinking about how the workplace atmosphere must be so different in the 80's than now. Aside from all the technological advances and different design preferences, one of the biggest things I was thinking of was the perception and treatment of women in the workplace. The part where Howie says that Tina flirts mechanically with him made me angry because it implied that for women to have any sort of position in an office in the 80's they had to sexualize they way men thought about them rather than just be respected. Hopefully now things have changed enough that if Howie talked to Tina today she wouldn't feel she had to flirt with him and his mind wouldn't wander so much during the conversation, and he would feel like he was talking to an equal.
ReplyDeleteI really like that you chose to write about women in The Mezzanine because it never crossed my mind before but now that I've read your post I totally know what you're talking about. I also like that you used excerpts of Howie's conversations with men and women because I think they really effectively illuminate the subtle differences in his tone and investment in the conversation. Another passage that came to mind when I was reading your post was when Howie was in CVS and liked to observe what kinds of things women buy there. Not only is this creepy, with potential sexual undertones, but it seems like he is treating them as some sort of alien creature that he has to study.
ReplyDeleteThis is super interesting! You're right in that a character's description is only a tiny piece of the puzzle of what makes them up- their interactions with others are far more indicative, especially in a book like this one. Each line is packed with information about Howie as a character, and what he chooses to observe gives us some of the most valuable information in the novel. Intentional or not, it's an incredibly accurate portrayal of the subtle type of sexism that often in dominates, even in so-called 'progressive' environments (not that Howie defines his workplace as such) and how difficult it can be for people to move past these sorts of ingrained attitudes, even today. It just goes to show how careful we have to be- even those who don't participate in explicit/obvious sexism (or any other -ism) can still perpetuate harmful attitudes through subconscious behavior and actions.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post! Before, I never saw Howie’s distinction between men and women, yet, now looking back I don’t understand how I could have missed it! Being inside Howie’s head for the entire book, I didn’t notice these subtle differences between him and I. I think I was too focused on relating myself to him that I didn’t realize this drastic difference. It is so strange how much you don’t notice by receiving a one-sided interpretation. If we would have heard, let’s say, Tina’s side of the conversation we may have noticed this trait a little more (possibly if he wasn’t making eye contact during the conversation because he didn’t care). This aspect of Howie’s character is so subtle that I don’t know if this was a Baker quality or if, as a writer, he recognized the time period and worked to discretely put this in to Howie’s character.
ReplyDeleteI love this take on his interactions! It's something that I definitely thought about a lot throughout The Mezzanine. The scene with Tina that you mentioned definitely bothered me a lot as well. I was getting frustrated as I read it because it was like he thought of everything as more important than what she, this silly secretary, had to say. Working in an office at this time must have been extremely difficult and full of obstacles for women as we can see just through this small interaction that Howie would barely deem as notable. Howie seems to have a classic stereotypical viewpoint for a man that every woman is there has something to look at or like a background character to boost his ego; he seems as though he thinks every woman is flirting with him.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good point about how Howie interacts with and/or thinks about women in the story. It seemed to me that whenever he brought up L she seemed more like a side note than the main point of his thoughts, like when he explains his earplug habits, L definitely seems like more of a side character than someone he actually cares about. I agree that he definitely seems much more absorbed in the small inventions that he has when he's talking to or thinking about women, rather than when he's talking to men, it's definitely telling about how differently people thought about women in the 80's.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest that Howie's references to L. and their relationship are a departure from this general trend. He talks about her as a friend, an intellectual equal, someone who shares his interest in the kinds of weird trivial things he likes to think about, and when he depicts them exchanging messages or interacting at home, it is always respectful and admiring, even deferential toward her. (I especially like the bit where they get excited because they both decided to clean their apartments at the same time, and they both really like the effect of sweeping the floor!)
ReplyDeleteAnd while you're right about the subtle ways Howie interacts as a "man among men" at work, remember the intense anxiety he suffers in the one exclusively male domain at the office--the corporate rest room. The company of other men in this context is humiliating and intimidating, with Howie unwillingly engaged in a rather literal "pissing contest." He feels the need to try to function and come across as a "normal guy," at work, but we sense that he might be a lot happier just hanging out with L. at home.