Why is Howie so Hyperobservant?

    While reading The Mezzanine by Nicolson Baker, I always found myself asking why Howie's mind works the way it does. In looking for an answer, I found that the first bit of information that seemed to attempt to explain his behavior was earlier in the book, in a passage that talks about how Howie feels that he has finally reached a hyperobservation phase of his life that everyone in his family told him he would one day reach. At first I believed that the prophesied sudden shift in the way he saw the world was the reason behind Howie's odd behavior. However, after being in Howie’s mind for 135 pages I think that the root behind his hyperobservancy goes back much farther and that in actuality Howie has always been hyperobservant and that there are many details in this novel that support this.

    For starters, Howie deeply respects and admires his father: including his taste in ties. When we first meet Howie's father on page 28, we learn that Howie picked up his fascination with ties from his father. While at a family function Howie recalls, "my father and I were without a question wearing the two best-looking ties that night," shortly after receiving approval from his father about his own tie. Showing their mutual love for ties, Howie and his father have a conversation about the appropriate ties and subtleties of tie etiquette where we can see that Howie, just like his father, is obsessed with "insignificant" things like ties. In many ways I believe Howie's attitude on life is a result of his father's. Being raised by a man who saw the beauty in smaller things was likely an attribute that rubbed off on Howie. The obsession with the intricacies of tie etiquette that he picked up from his father was likely a bridge to beginning to take a fascination in other smaller things in the world ever since he was a kid.

    Howie's hyperobservancy can once again be explained by the same footnote on page 28 that talks about his love for ties. Howie’s short story detailing his childhood memories with his father and his ties is almost all we have to go off of in terms of what his childhood was like. Nonetheless, I think that Howie’s fond memories of his father and his ties make it clear that Howie's childhood was a fairly loving one. We can also make the assumption through knowing his childhood was not terribly tragic (as far as we know) that Howie's tendency to focus on the minute details of life is not due to a trauma that prevents him from wanting to think "adult thoughts" or anything existential, but is rather due to the fact that life has been kind enough to him to where Howie has never really had to think "deeper" thoughts.When Howie rejects Aurelius’ existential philosophy; "Wrong, wrong, wrong! I thought. Destructive and unhelpful and misguided and completely untrue!" he shows us he is unwilling to think too deeply about life. In other words, Howie's hyperobservancy can be explained because he seldom has to think deep thoughts, and thus has been allowed to continue the simplistic lifestyle of his happy childhood, observing the world in a more childish way.

    The last major piece of the book that I think explains why Howie is so hyperobservant is conveyed through Howie's difficulty to have meaningful conversations and thoughts about bigger picture ideas. A great example of his struggle is with Howie's interaction with the secretary in chapter four. Despite having gotten into a rhythmic conversation with the secretary that is only temporarily interrupted by a phone call, Howie excuses himself from pursuing the conversation any further for fear of “getting too deep” or “paying too much attention.” To me this feels like another point in which life attempts to get too meaningful for Howie, so he defuses the situation and leaves. We can see that rather than participating in a more meaningful conversation, Howie would rather be focused on the smaller questions of life that he has been focused on ever since he was a kid.