The Mezzanine:

In today’s world, the critical thinker would assume that the growing rate of production and consumption in society would call for a change in dynamics. Shouldn’t we return to the days of humanism and leave the drone-like consumerism to the past? Many novels that are read in college English courses point out the injustices, evolution, or the hypocrisy of the capitalist society –like some of the novels in this course. On the contrary, Nicholson Baker's novel seems to suggest that the post-modern world actually inspires reflection and contemplation. Instead of exposing a world of negativity, The Mezzanine, completely defies the common perception of the hyper-productive, desensitized post-modern society. The symbol of the escalator allows Baker to illustrate his take on the industrious, consumptive postmodern world. It was quite interesting to witness the methods Baker used to interrupt time for both his protagonist and his audience –of possible naysayers.
The time spent on the infamous escalator forces Howie to explore many of his forgotten memories. Immediately, the thoughts flow through his mind as he approaches the escalator. “It would have been less cumbersome, in the account I am giving here of a specific lunch hour several years ago, to have pretended that the bag thought had come to me complete and ‘all at once’ at the foot of the up escalator, but the truth was that it was only the latest in a fairly long sequence of partially forgotten, inarticulable experiences, finally now reaching a point that I paid attention to it for the first time. (Baker, p. 9)” A simple lunchtime errands leads to the beginning of deep contemplation. Already, we see that his reflection doesn’t have to arise while he is absent from the commotion of his workday life. With a simple elevator ride, Baker is showing us that the workday life and one of the universal symbols of postmodern convenience, the "stapled CVS bag" that enables the memories. What seems like a dull lunchtime routine, is truly Howie’s ‘onion time’—a moment to peel away at the layers of his life. This shocking recognition is an example of the postmodernist method of bringing art back into the turmoil of daily life. Howie's participation in this modern-day industrial culture, in which he plays the roles of producer and consumer, are crucial to his illumination or enlightenment.
Baker uses the escalator as a metaphor for his characters, as well as the audience of readers. This story Baker has written seems to be our escalator –like Howie. He gives the reader a vehicle through which time is shattered from its commonly direct standard and, instead, portrayed more unpredictable or indirect –like one’s inner mind. The errands done during narrator's limited one hour lunch break actually serves as Baker’s primary message. These tasks taken care of inside this small window of time initiates the Howie’s mediation –the secondary message. It took me finishing the novel before I realized narrative style allows Baker highlight the benefits of a productive and consumptive society –postmodern. Unlike most novel’s depicting the capitalist world, there is no grand story that ties in towards the ending. Through the use of micro-narratives he avoids concepts that are global/universal by explaining relatable/smaller circumstances.
Initially, Howie tries to repel the many influences of the world around him. Like most that oppose postmodernism, he attempts to resist by literally blocking out the noise --with his earplugs. Soon he comes to the realization that he is most content without the wall of the earplugs. Howie finds gratification when he lets the world creep into his consciousness. "Lunch hours I never wore them; and possibly this explained why my thoughts had a different kind of upper harmonic during lunch (Baker, p. 109)." His meditation on the earplugs initiates the flow of sentimental moments with his girlfriend, L. In spite of Howie’s determination to drown out this consumptive and productive world, he engages an intimate interaction. Does this mean without the loud racket of postmodern society, he would have no use for earplugs and as a result wouldn’t have the intimate moments or the feeling of being content? That would mean Baker believes that personal and professional productivity is possible within the postmodern world. Howie’s experience during his attempted resistance illustrates the inevitability of the influences of postmodern society seeping into one’s world.
The milk carton Howie buys at Papa Gino's causes him to recollect the carton of Sealtest milk during his youth. This carton of milk is connected to his thoughts about the missing milk man/bottles. It seems like these memories are allowing Howie to reflect on the disappearance of his childhood and the shift into adulthood. “I have, then, only one unit of adult thought about milk to weigh against dozens of childhood units. And this is true of many, perhaps most, subjects that are important to me . . . if I could locate the precise moment in my past when I conclusively became an adult, a few simple calculations would determine how many years it will take before I reach this new stage of life: the end of the rule of nostalgia, the beginning of my true majority. And luckily, I can remember the very day that my life as an adult began. (Baker, p. 47)” Again we see great personal productivity –a snowball effect-- through a simple capitalistic symbol. Buying the cookie leads to Howie purchasing the milk, which opens the door to his contemplation: progression of the design of consumerism --from milk bottles to milk cartons—and the power of memory. Baker shows us that both relate to the passing of time. Howie is able to assess his personal growth by the way he reacts to the products around him. Every advancement of the milk container is accompanied by additional knowledge.
The narrator’s fixation with the garbage truck illustrates its symbol as the wrongful discarding of mass production and consumption. Not unlike the milk containers, the garbage struck permits Howie to analyze himself and his thinking within the larger time/space continuum. “But it was the garbage truck I saw at age thirty on display against the blue sky that reminded me of my old backdrop discovery. Though simple, the trick was something that struck me as useful right now. Thus, the "when I was little" nostalgia was misleading: it turned something that I was taking seriously as an adult into something soupier, less precise, more falsely exotic, than it really was. (Baker, pp. 38-39)” This is when I noticed Howie’s official rejection of nostalgia and his approval of postmodernism. I believe Baker used Howie’s revelation to send a message to the reader –specifically opposers of postmodernism; at one time, the things that we long for from the past were once things we doubted because of their newness. I thought this was powerful and it actually made me self-reflect. Nostalgia can hinder one’s enjoyment of the present, which becomes a never-ending reward-less cycle. Although I do not completely agree with the values todays postmodernist society, I do understand Baker’s idea of seizes the day –the present.
As the reader, it became obvious that the narrator's role as a consumer gave him feelings of pleasure and control. Baker uses the charge receipts, like the old business cards and paycheck stubs, as proof to Howie --and the world-- that he exists. For the narrator, being a consumer is powerful because it means you know your place in society. Baker is trying to prove that postmodernism does not doom us all. Although the narrator’s contemplation begins with the local, like his charge receipts, his judgment of these items and how they are metaphors for his own existence goes beyond the consumer’s instant gratification. Critics of postmodernism decry mass production and consumption as signs of the degeneration of culture. Ironically, it wasn’t until I finished reading The Mezzanine that I began to recognize the optimism in Baker’s writing. At the end of the day, amidst the seemingly chaotic, noisy, desensitized postmodern world, individuals are capable of finding meaning in their existence.