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Jonathan Lethem: Procedure in plain air

StraightA

New Member
I have just read this short story and I am at a loss as to how to interpret it... Can anyone share any insights into this text...

Many thanks.

SA
 
Procedure in plain air analysis

Hi,

I find that many New Yorker mag fictions take some scratching to understand the core. Their stories made me ponder their meaning, and led to google searches, til finally i decided to try to analyse them and post my understanding of them on my blog.

Superfluous society becomes immune to the humane condition.

This story comments on access and the superfluous preoccupations of our society. Stevick, the main character, goes to the coffee shop for a caffeine boost not for the taste, nor for the atmosphere which he finds excessive. His moment there is juxtaposed with the other café denizens who are preoccupied with the wifi, their cell phones, the perfectly tuned Ipod, whether the coffee has a soapy after taste, the other denizens in the shop. Stevick sits outside to escape the mind numbing convoluted society inside.

Outside, he witnesses a man being placed into a hole in the ground. Outraged by his being left there with little protection from the rain he stands above him with an umbrella. His values again are being juxtaposed with people concerned over the property value, walking their dogs and just doing their jobs as was the case with the men who inserted him into the hole.

He is later accosted in the street by what he terms a yuppy who is belligerent that his presence is lowering his property value. Fueled by his anger over the situation of the man in the hole and his beliefs he starts fighting. The fight quickly ends as both parties get bored and go back to perspective lives.

The uniform changes everything
Charlotte, his ex-wife, belittles his efforts much as society seems to, that is when they even notice him. The uniform in the bag changes everything for him, he is now part of this enterprise and this strengthens him isolating him for the superfluous judgmental denizens, “Charlotte, like much else, was receding from view.”

The Man in the hole

The man in the hole is also symbol of the purely functional necessity driven lifestyle. At first outraged by the mans condition, he later muses that he himself may one day be placed in a hole. Which makes me think, to each his own obsession. What he once thought of as heinous, he concludes, he is happy to be a part of.

Integration is unavoidable
He is happy to be part of an art installation which shuns the superfluous, the fancy, whimsical the unnecessary. However this installation and the idea of art represents all those things. Integration is unavoidable.

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If you are interested in reading my other NY-er analysis they can be found under "blueseaurchin" blog. This site is not permitting me to post urls until I have 15 posts.


Love to have your feedback!;)
 
I just finished reading this story for a grad class on POV. I wanted to add that it also seems an allegory for Corporate America. Stevick is this kind of unassuming but judgmental guy- a managerial type- who witnesses a man known only as the "captive" being placed into a hole on the street. It begins to rain and so Stevick receives an umbrella so that he may "shelter" the captive. This ultimately becomes his job.

Within the text there are many corporate America related references including his "too generous severance" and the fact that he is in the Manhattan business district. The truck moved into the neighborhood, much like a "Walmart" for example, and sets up an installation without regard to the neighborhood or the people in the Cafe or any of the other natural occurrences on the street. And though the
"jackhammers" bother people, no one objects to the hole or asks any questions. The "captive" himself is very possibly a representation of the corporate worker who, as we find out later, Stevick himself has the possibility of becoming. Stevick, in the end, is handed a duffle bag with jumpsuit (suit and tie?) and left to wonder who he works for, why and what for. None of these questions are answered, thus begging the question: Can anyone really answer these questions about their own job? In the end, Stevick is mostly concerned not with answers but rather, with the minute "details" of his work and whether or not he's going to do a good job. With corporations so inhumanely detached from their workers and workers so completely detached from the SOURCE of their labor, the purpose of "work" becomes something as bizarre and unreal that there is no "absolute truth" to it.

Overall, I think Lethem did an excellent "job."
 
Invasive Corporate Culture

Hi Sevenperfumes!

I think you make a good point, as you say, the main character's identity is even tied to his job which is a very american corporate cultural idea.

Your mentioning of a the jumper made me think of it as a way to remove his identity much the way conservative corporations want everyone to wear the same type of clothing, namely a suit, and not one that might show anyone's personality. So that when you take a step back and look inside it's as if everyone is the same and thus easily replaceable.

I definitely felt like the main character was growing to accept this idea towards the end which could only leave the reader with a sense of discomfort and read like this I have to agree that the story is powerful.
 
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