An Analysis Of Mike's 'The Moustache'

“Just be yourself!” Anyone and everyone has heard this saying before, urging him on to be his true self, to find his identity and to live it. In most cases, however, standing out from the crowd as an individual and daring to go against the grain of society is a very hard thing to do. First of all, one has to know just who this “yourself” is. Who really is this individual that I see everyday in the mirror, whose body I am in? And once that’s been squared away, then comes the decision to display that nonconforming, abnormal self to the collectively-minded, decidedly normal society. Not an easy task to do. That is why when we see a brave human being who is willing to show this unique side of themselves to us, we are shocked. We don’t know how …show more content…
They tend to be the ones who give us our most memorable moments, often when we least expect them. The narrator, Mike, in “The Moustache” thought he was just going to visit his old, failing grandmother in the nursing home. His mother nitpicked about his mustache before he left, business as usual. He felt guilty about driving his dad’s car too fast, normal teenager things. Just a normal day in society for this average teenager, his mother, father, sister, girlfriend adhering to their set roles in his average relationships. All until he starts talking to his grandmother. She mistakes him for his grandfather who is named Mike as well, and the narrator finds out that “she’s a person.” All they regular people in his life, in everyone’s life, “they exist outside of their relationship to me.” The realization was frightening for the narrator, but it is important. I think we could find more meaning in our relationships once we start recognizing the actual people, the individuals, involved in them. I’m sure that Mike will remember that exchange he had with his grandmother the rest of his life. Maybe it would change the way he saw people, and in a good