Solipsism and self-centered characterization in Auntie Mame

Auntie Mame: Solipsist or Just Eccentric?

In "Auntie Mame," the author Patrick Dennis introduces readers to Mame Dennis, a unique and energetic woman with a progressive social vision. Mame is charged with taking care of her orphaned 9-year-old nephew, Patrick, who narrates the story. While Patrick is the narrator, Auntie Mame is definitely the star. Many could easily claim that because of Mame's eccentriciteis, she lives in her own little world. But does that make her a solipsist? I do not think that it does because in order for her to represent the true definition of a solipist, she would not acknowledge anyone else's existance, and she has clearly let her nephew Patrick into her life and her heart. Therefore, she does not, as the definition of solipism describes perceive herself as the only reality.

Mame is very aware that many people choose to live a much different type of lifestyle than she does. She may not agree with them, but she definitely acknowledges their existence. If they did not exist, she would not have to fight so hard against them to ensure that her nephew does not become one of them; that is, a "stuffed shirt" who does not know how to truly enjoy life. Mame is one of those people that absorbs everything that life has to offer. She may be strange. She may even be a little crazy. But she is not a solipsist; she is actually quite connected to the world around her, even if she does not always like the way it works. If any label would have to be given to her (although I think she ultimately defies all labels), it would have to be: eccentric.

This is not to say that Mame does not manipulate the situations around her to help things go her way. She is definitely capable of designing her own world based on her own desires. For example, when Patrick is about to marry a woman who Mame thinks is stuck up and just too "blue blooded" for her free-spirited nephew, she goes out of her way to make sure that this wedding never takes place. She invites the bride-to-be's family over and exposes them to friends of her that she knows they will consider to be "low lifes." The family (including the fiance) show their true colors by acting like complete snobs, and Mame gets her wish -- the wedding is called off. Eventually, Patrick marries a woman that his aunt approves of, a woman from the middle class who is down to earth and in Mame's mind, much better suited for Patrick.

It could be claimed that because Mame only sees her way as the right way and the only way that she is solipsist. However, solipsism is not about being egotistic, it is about failing to recognize that other realities exist outside of your own. Mame is quite aware that many other realities exist -- she just does not want those realities to ruin her nephew and turn him into a snob.

Another piece of evidence that shows that Mame is not a solipsist is that when the stock market crashes and she loses her fortune, she does not just wallow in depression. She goes out and gets a job in a department store. Many people who had experienced Mame's wealth would have thought that such a job was far beneath them and would never have gone out and worked like a "commoner." If Auntie Mame was so caught up in the isolation of her own existence, she would have allowed herself to just waste away instead of going out their and doing something positive for not only herself, but her nephew, Patrick and her servants as well. Of course it all worked out for her anyway because even though she was not very good at the job (which. By the way. provided many hilarious moments), she was able to meet her rich new husband while she was working there. When he unexpectedly passed away, she was once again a woman who had her own fortune. But she does not spend this fortune only on herself as a solipsist would; she uses to make the lives of those around her better too -- especially her nephew's.

Another reason Mame should not be considered a solipsist is that her spirit was infectious. Her energetic and free-spirited attitude towards life was not something she kept to herself; she generously shared it with those around her. She did not want the people she cared about to be starving at the banquet of life -- she wanted to them to be stuffed to the gills with all that life has to offer.

According to Elmer Sprague, author of Persons and Their Minds: A Philosophical Investigation, "The solipsist is captured by the notion of the inviolable privacy of personal experience; the solipsist's 'only I really see' is closely connected with the idea expressed in the assertion 'we never know what the other man really sees when he looks at a thing' or this 'we can never know whether he calls the same thing 'blue' which we call 'blue'" (57).

This description does not capture the essence of Auntie Mame at all. She knows that many people do not agree with her carefree attitude towards life. But that does not mean she is incapable of understanding that other viewpoints can have value as well. She chooses the lifestyle that is most suited to her, and while she tries to encourage other people to share in her lifestyle decisions, this is only because she wants them to experience the same type of joy out of life that she experiences. She can tell when people are bored or unhappy with their lives and she wants to help them. She is not attempting to control them or manipulate them into seeing that her "blue" is the only "blue." She is merely offering them another option -- one that works for her, but may not necessarily work for everybody else.