Is Howie Neurodivergent?
Howie shows signs of being autistic, such as sensory stims, sometimes having an inability to judge appropriate conversation topics, and an unwillingness for change. On page 12, Howie’s foot “slipped from the untied shoe and sought out the texture of the carpeting[,] … enjoying the slippage of the inner surface of the sock against the underside”. Howie is rubbing his socked foot against the carpet, which is causing his foot to rub against the sock. Rubbing against unique textures is a kind of stimming, or sensory seeking, that autistic people experience. In Howie’s case, he is seeking the sensation of the woven texture of the sock sliding against his skin.
In the footnote on page 61, Howie talks about his first conversation with Bob Leary. This conversation has an interesting subject, being “the decreasing margins in the now mature copying-machine business, and the use of air suction as an element of the paper-feed mechanism that nobody could have foretold”. This is an odd topic of conversation, especially if you are meeting someone for the first time. Autistic people can struggle with knowing what is and isn’t a socially-acceptable topic for conversation. In this case, Howie, instead of leading the conversation with the normal pleasantries of “how are you”s and connecting over their shared job, goes into a deep dive about copy machines, which is not your normal coworker conversation.
This entire book is centered around change, from plastic straws to Sealtest milk cartons to doorknobs. In almost every example, Howie is shown disapproving of these changes, mentioning “the uncomfortable era of the floating straw” (4), that “though [he] resented it at first, [his] mother began buying supplemental cartons of Sealtest from the A&P” (44), and how newer doorknobs were “[t]oo modern-looking, really, to be called a doorknob” (27). In each of these quotes Howie is complaining about some kind of change: he thinks that paper straws worked better than plastic straws; when he was a kid, he hung on to milk home delivery for as long as he could; he disliked how much the design of doorknobs had changed from the ones he grew up with. It is common for autistic people to struggle with changes such as these. Howie showing a discordance with these changes is a symptom of autism
It's always dicey to try to "diagnose" a fictional character, but you're right that there are many aspects of this narrative that resonate with neurodivergence, and you're describing nicely the general effect of being immersed in Howie's distinctive perceptions and experience of the world through this novel. We do get the sense of Howie as being rather "high functioning"--for all his quirkiness, all indications are that he is seen as a regular guy, a good office buddy, the guy you'd ask to join you for lunch on the way out. He makes small talk with the maintenance staff and knows their names. But as you note, he is also acutely self-conscious of all of these things, and he definitely seems to "overthink" his day-to-day social interactions. And he is attuned to his degrees of physical comfort and discomfort in a way that is both familiar/relatable and perhaps excessive. I especially enjoy how sort of "proud of himself" Howie seems at various points in the novel, when he has successfully navigated and fulfilled some task, or done an adult thing in the appropriate way.
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah! Interesting take, and I am honestly not sure where I stand. I don't know if I know enough to make that conclusion myself. I struggled to form an opinion on whether or not he's "normal" too. He seems to try really hard to be normal, but does he actually succeed? I think a lot of us overanalyze this kind of thing, and if anyone got a glimpse inside everyone else's mind, we owuld probably all seem pretty weird, since we only put forward our most "normal" version to the world. That said, I do think the scene where he goes on and on about the printer was a decent indication of him being a little different from what's considered typical, I am just not sure I would go as far as diagnosing him off of it, without knowing too much. Overall great blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah, I thought this blog was very interesting. My mom works with autistic kids so it there always a sort of effort to diagnose characters in books. When I was reading The Mezzanine, I couldn't help but notice some of his symptoms of autism. His struggle in social interactions, insistence on sameness and routine, and extreme hyper focus on certain interests do check out.
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah! I never thought about if Howie is neurodivergent. Your examples do align with your claim, but I am not completely convinced. I kinda of feel like he is just a really nerdy person that struggles with social interactions. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteHello Sarah, throughout the novel, when reading about the actions that Howie does in the novel and some of the conversations that he has. I started to think myself that maybe he was just weird or had a mental disability. I think that your blog post does a great job of identifying what the character has and the examples that you gave in your post go very well with what you are trying to state in your blog post. Great job!
ReplyDeleteSarah, I find this take to be pretty accurate. In the middle of reading The Mezzanine the thought popped up into my head. In my opinion I think Howie shows many signs of neurodivergency. Obviously I don't know the authors intentions, if he wanted to make Howie neurdodivergent or not or if he even thought about it. But I still think it's good because neurodivergent people who read this book may find some relatability in Howies character even more so that a neurotypical person would.
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah! Nice blog! Somewhere along reading this book, I also began to wonder if Howie was neurodivergent, but you have some really good examples I hadn't even considered, such as his sock stimming. Honestly, I agree with this take, and I also feel his extreme memory on certain topics could also be a neuro-divergent trait. Anyway, great blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah! The first time I read his encounter with the socks I immediately had the same idea, and I went back and forth on whether I should write about it but ultimately didn't have the courage to. But, I completely agree that he has many autistic traits throughout the book, especially his routines and multiple accounts of different textures and descriptions of them and how they made him feel. Either way whether he is or isn't, he is a relatable character. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteI found your argument convincing because you use specific examples from the text to support the idea that Howie may display autistic traits. The examples of sensory-seeking behavior with the carpet and sock, his unusually detailed conversation about copy machines, and his resistance to everyday changes all fit together well. What I found most interesting is your point about change, since so much of The Mezzanine revolves around Howie noticing and criticizing small changes that most people would ignore. At the same time, I think Baker leaves enough ambiguity that readers can interpret these behaviors in different ways. Some might see Howie's habits as signs of autism, while others might view them as examples of his intense curiosity and nostalgia. Either way, your post highlights how Howie's attention to detail makes him a unique and memorable narrator.
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