The Satirical Newspaper the Onion Once Ran a Story with the Headline

Essay

The satirical newspaper The Onion once ran a story with the headline "Man Reading Pynchon on Bus Takes Pains to Make Cover Visible." The story went on to describe a bus passenger who was reading a book by the critically acclaimed, but difficult and confusing, author Thomas Pynchon. Instead of holding the book on his lap, he held it directly in front of his face so that the cover was visible to everyone and occasionally glanced around to see if anyone noticed. What would Erving Goffman say about this?