Small bodily habits can be read as either absorption or contempt.

Evidence

Schlichtmann managed to contain himself for several moments while Rikki described the Woburn case to Nesson, who listened and said very little. Schlichtmann mentioned the Harvard Health Study, and Nesson said he recalled reading about it in the newspapers. Waiters came with lunch and by the time the plates were cleared, Schlichtmann had barely touched his food. As Schlichtmann talked, the waiters brought lemon meringue pie for dessert. Rikki watched Nesson pick up a fork and begin to create designs in the meringue. He never took a bite of the pie, but the designs grew increasingly complicated. She couldn’t tell if this meant that Nesson was interested in what Schlichtmann was saying, or if he was merely bored. — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 1363

Categorization

• FICTION: The fork tracing elaborate designs in untouched lemon meringue pie is an instantly usable character tell — a gesture that means opposite things depending on what follows.
• SHARE: A perfect detail for anyone who loves observing power at lunch — the meringue designs grow more complicated the longer he listens.
• XREF: connects to: Habit etymologically converts having into a way of being — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 384; Repeated bodily practices form the self rather than merely express it — Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival…, 1022; Habit alters a being’s internal potentiality, not merely its outward states. (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Habit etymologically converts having into a way of being #expands (1.00) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 384
• Repeated bodily practices form the self rather than merely express it #expands (1.00) — Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety, 1022
• Habit alters a being’s internal potentiality, not merely its outward states. #expands (1.00)
• Habit is what lets the subject know its own finitude and so be sane #complicates (1.00) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 611
• Habit transforms contingent acts into essential determinations of being. #complicates (1.00) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 601