What I found most interesting about Baker's style was how he attempted to compliment his humor. He attempted to change from simply being funny through Howie's enthusiasm for, and over-complication of every day things combined with his ridiculous trains of thought, to a completely random, dry humor. This kind of relates to Mr. Mitchell's comment about how Baker is sort of like a stand up comedian, in that he takes an idea and just builds on it and runs with it to see where it takes him, in this case he's complimenting that with something similar to gallows humor.
An example of this is Howie's table of thoughts and how often they occur on pages 127 and 128. In his list of thoughts he mentions the "urge to kill" occurring multiple times. This thought is obviously supposed to be funny, and is a perfect example of this gallows humor-like voice from Baker. This statement is very dry but also too negative (especially for Howie) to be serious coming from a mentally stable person like Howie.
I found sections of almost Kurt Vonnegut-esque humor like this both interesting and confusing because it seemed out of place at the same time as fitting with Baker's goal of comedy. It really didn't seem to fit my image of Howie at all and I found that confusing, but it was also revealing to me - we don't really know that much about Howie's personality other than his enthusiasm for life, so perhaps this gallows humor matches him perfectly.
I agree that this urge to kill seems to be out of character for Howie although, it probably benefits the story to have some variation in types of humor. I do think however that since this gallows humor takes a great deal away from Howie's childish nature it might be instead meant to serve as a reminder that, despite how he acts, Howie is an adult.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right in that the only thing we can gather from Howie is that he possesses a certain zest for life that doesn't seem to add up to his occupation. It's interesting to consider that his humor is what allows readers to see more of him. If we consider that his humor is something that developed, unlike his love for life which seems innate, we can piece together a Howie that has more depth. Perhaps his co-workers can only glimpse at his zest which is overshadowed by his humor in the same way readers see his humor only in contrast to his zest.
ReplyDeleteI too think that the humor Baker utilizes throughout the novel is kind of unorthodox. Its just the right amount of randomness mixed with legitimate connections that makes this novel entertaining. I also think its simply amazing that Baker is able to mix all kinds of different types of humor, whether it be random, dark humor, or even excessively optimistic about things. this makes Howie much more animated. It makes us feel as if we know him!
ReplyDeleteI agree that his dry, almost sarcastic attitude provides for an interesting read, however for me I thought that the humor throughout the book complimented with Howie's personality pretty consistently. I feel like a guy who makes a big deal out of trivial things is going to have a somewhat sardonic attitude, but this is my interpretation of Howie's character.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, the way he jumps out of his normal narration to say he felt the urge to kill is weird, but it keeps you on your toes. I also agree with the comment above me. He's a trivial guy: we've seen that through the stapler scene and the subway scene; so him talking about killing in such a flippant way fits perfectly well with him in the end.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite random recurring thought, in Howie's list late in the novel, is "DJ: Would I be happy as one?" Like "urge to kill" (which maybe Baker is suggesting is a pretty common fleeting thought for even generally "up" people like Howie?), this gives us a new and intriguing glimpse into the character. Partly, a commonplace sort of thought (am I happy in my job?), but the specificity of Howie imagining himself as a DJ (doing proms? weddings? on the radio? as part of a rap group?) just makes me laugh every time. (He'd forget to change the record because he'd be too busy watching the "constancy of shine" on its edge!)
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