The Bleak Life (and Death) of a Jiffy Pop Inventor
By Ruby Mitchell
Out of all of the footnotes in The Mezzanine, my personal favorite comes on page 107, interrupting Howie's account of his on-a-whim popcorn purchase during his lunch break. Similar to the rest of the footnotes, this one starts off with a very passionate tangent about a very mundane product. In this specific footnote, Howie is singing the praises of Jiffy Pop Popcorn, hailing it as "one of the outstanding instances of human ingenuity" (Baker 107). Obviously, this isn't new for Howie. He feels this way about a myriad of different mundane products that most people overlook in their daily lives. Howie praises the work of the unknown engineers behind escalators, paper towel dispensers, perforated paper, and in the case of this particular footnote, Jiffy Pop. In this Jiffy Pop-oriented footnote, he begins by describing–in excruciating detail–the process of cooking Jiffy Pop and how the innovations in its design have made cooking popcorn so much easier! He goes on to describe that his obsession with Jiffy Pop’s design went so far that he was moved to visit a local university library to look up who exactly the great mind behind this invention was. Once Howie finds the inventor, Frederick Mennen, he finds a picture of him from 1960 “smiling sad-eyedly in his factory in La Porte, Indiana,” and even goes so far as to look up his home phone number (Baker 107). He then decides to call Mr. Mennen’s home phone to say how big of a fan he is and how impressed he is with Mennen's genius, but after a couple of rings, he decides to hang up, “dreading a widow’s frail answer” (Baker 107).
This is one of the few bleak moments in this novel where–just for a few sentences–Howie’s usual excitement about life and happy-go-lucky persona drops and we get to see a hidden side of him; a side that is slightly more grounded in the harsh reality that everything isn’t interesting and exciting all the time. People die, and not only that, but those people often die completely unrecognized for any of their achievements, without leaving any significant mark on the world. This fact is a hard one for Howie to wrap his head around as someone who spends a majority of his day wondering and researching about these exact people. At this moment, as he’s deciding to hang up, Howie is coming to terms with the bleak reality that this man that he adores so much is most likely dead.
This isn’t the only time we see Howie grapple with the sobering reality that is death, and the idea that any one of us might not matter as much as we might think we do. Later in the novel, Howie harshly criticizes Aurelius’s idea that nothing really matters in the end, because we’re all going to die, and that life is “transient and trivial […] one day a drop of semen, tomorrow a handful of spice and ashes” (Qtd. in Baker 120). Howie, naturally, is very critical of this take on human life, because in his eyes, everything about human life is interesting and worth celebrating, and none of it is trivial in the slightest. While Howie would likely die on the hill that Aurelius is completely wrong, this moment in the footnote on page 107 is one where Howie actually has to come to terms with the transient and trivial nature of life that he disagrees with so valiantly. He has to face the fact that this man, Frederick Mennen, is completely anonymous to the general public, and likely died completely unrecognized for his achievements. No matter how relevant to modern society Howie might believe Mennen is, he won’t be showing up in any history books anytime soon, most people will continue to make jiffy pop completely unaware of his existence, and he, along with the rest of Howie’s engineering heroes, will likely never be given the recognition Howie thinks he deserves.
What makes this footnote even more bleak is that today Jiffy Pop is not as common as Howie made it out to be back then. Although, one way of looking at this footnote is that it supports Aurelius’s claim that life is trivial and fleeting, another interpretation is that the inventor of Jiffy Pop is still remembered because of Howie's deep appreciation for the invention. If it where not for Howie's commitment to the belief that every little thing matters, generations of people would not be reading about Mennen in their English class.
ReplyDeleteI think you hit on a good point that Howie's "bleak" side isn't really shown until the end of the novel. Throughout his day he talks about a wide variety of fascinations and we immediately learn of Howie's childish side. However, as you mentioned in your post, towards the end of the story, we see Howie starting to accept reality, think darker thoughts, and sorta mature in a sense. Overall awesome post, loved reading it!
ReplyDeleteReading your blog tugged at a string I didn't know I had in the realm of my sympathy for Howie. Throughout the book his character deployed such a positive and happy-go-lucky persona that no one needed to care for and after, and his reaction to Aurelius could be contributed to Howies sense of importance. On a different note, the raw idea of Howie contemplating with the thought of his popcorn idol having passed brings me to sympathize for his character. I have not yet felt this way for Howie, well done with this emotion provoking writing.
ReplyDeleteI found your blog really interesting, as in my initial read through of The Mezzanine, I sort of viewed Howie as a one-dimensional character. Although he discussed and rambled on about a variety of different topics, I thought that his relatively defined in his enthusiasm for the ordinary. Your post, however, highlights the complexity that he's somewhat self aware that his attitude is out of the ordinary.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the much-needed tangent this blog post has taken compared to many others concerning the topic of defamiliarization. Indeed it's an important part of the novel, but certainly not all it's about, especially when we consider the very human lives portrayed in this novel (though they may be portrayed in a rather detail-oriented manner). I like that you take the time to acknowledge that Howie has very human, sometimes bleak feelings that many of us skip over to focus on the enthusiastic descriptions he has for other aspects of life. It was very interesting to hear your point on a footnote I must confess I also gave little thought to, and to understand how important it is to acknowledge the somewhat negative human feelings that we occasionally see with Howie in this book.
ReplyDeleteYour explanation of Howie's personality being "happy-go-lucky" encapsulates him really well! You also did a really good job of diving deeper into his personality when it comes to his random moments of clarity. His personality always seemed to ignore deeper thought, instead diving into surface level detail, so I honestly overlooked this aspect of the book. It's really interesting to see how he acts when he thinks about something that isn't so positive!
ReplyDeleteYour description of the contradiction between Howie's uncharacteristic sadness over the potential death of the Jiffy Pop Inventor and his passionate disagreement with Aurelius highlight the importance of realizing that while Howie's thoughts are exciting, passionate, and hopeful, they aren't entirely representative of reality. While Howie tries his best to make every one of his details as positive and energy-filled possible, this strategy doesn't work when he's hit with the sobering reality that all people, no matter how important and incredible in his eyes, do die. You do a great job pointing out and explaining this strange tone shift within the story. Awesome blog!
ReplyDeleteI've never made this specific connection--between Howie's sudden anxiety about encountering a "widow's frail answer" and his strong reaction against the Aurelius passage--before, and it does seem like a sobering moment where he is compelled to glimpse something of the harsh truth of transience and the triviality of human achievements. (The genius behind perforation [shout it out!!] has also lived and died without widespread recognition or a national holiday.)
ReplyDeleteBut there is an ironic way in which Nicholson Baker has managed to insert Mennen and his story into his novel (at least I assume this is the real guy who invented Jiffy Pop--I've never fact-checked it), thereby *paying tribute to him* in the "timeless" and "non-transient" mode of literary fiction. In other words, here WE are writing about Mennen and his ingenuity, with Howie as the heroic figure who rescues this man from obscurity. By 2024, we know that Mennen is no longer with us--nor is the widow whose voice Howie fears. And maybe there is something sad about the small head-shot being Mennen's only immortality. But this novel tries to attune us to ALL of the anonymous industrial designers out there, laboring to ensure comfort and convenience for all of us consumers--with no fame, glory, or recognition. Can we look around and appreciate all these signs of human ingenuity all around us every day, even if the specific people behind these innovations are not on postage stamps?
I really enjoyed your report on Howie's sympathy, and apart of it being fear for his life's purpose. Although the Jiffy Pop passage was lighthearted in the beginning, it developed to include more contemplative and existential thoughts. Supported by when Howie reads the Aurelius quote and responds defensively, Nicholson Baker seems to be stressing that the book can not solely be cheerful discussions of details. It forces him to contemplate the question of if you dedicate your life to something unimpactful, or no one acknowledges you for it, what is the point? Howie strongly dislikes having these thoughts, and it could be for self-interest and worrying if his life himself is not worth much, or a more empathetic approach that everyone should be recognized, regardless of the size of their feats. Either way, you brought up a great part of The Mezzanine's plot. Great job!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Ruby! I like your thoughts about Howie's fascination with parts of life that seem trivial to most. The idea that Howie occasionally shows an understanding that life is not always as exciting as he expresses it as, is very interesting. I hadn't thought about this prospective before, but it is definitely an aspect of The Mezzanine to think about.
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