What my signature means to me

Introduction

In this school assignment from January 24, 1922, for which Robert E. Howard received a B-, he delivers a humorous and self-deprecating take on the significance of his signature. Despite his teacher’s instruction for a serious reflection, Howard’s response is filled with irony and humor. He candidly remarks on his financial instability and the more practical and sometimes troublesome implications of his signature in everyday life.

Summary

Howard opens by questioning the importance of his signature, noting its primary use: facilitating financial transactions, albeit jokingly acknowledging his current inability to honor checks. His signature acts as a personal identifier on various documents like themes, letters, and exam papers, but he expresses a deeper interest in the names of others, particularly those from whom he might gain financially, like his employers on payday or the famously wealthy J.P. Morgan.

His reflection takes a comedic turn as he recounts an incident where he admired and practiced J.P. Morgan’s signature to such perfection that he jokingly tried to pass it off to a bank teller, humorously resulting in a fictional five-year prison sentence. This anecdote highlights his disregard for signature experts and the seriousness with which signatures are typically regarded.

Howard continues to explore the practical uses of his signature, pointing out how merchants appreciate it due to the debts accrued under his name, humorously depicted with a ledger full of figures tied to his signature. He quips about the power of his signature on checks, noting he could write a check with twenty figures, albeit all zeros, reflecting on his financial worthlessness humorously.

He concludes with a sardonic comment on how his signature on books becomes meaningless when those books are borrowed and claimed by others, a final nod to the personal insignificance and the manipulability of his signature.

Howard’s assignment illustrates his early knack for blending humor with a critique of personal and financial identity, wrapped up in a candid introspection of what his signature truly represents to him beyond mere scribbles on paper.

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