The Moviegoer tells the story of a lonely soul named John Bickerson (Binx) Bolling, a stock and bond broker living in Gentilly, New Orleans. He takes us along on a journey as he searches for a "something." After 242 pages of getting to know Binx, his family members and friends, strangers he observes on the street, travel experiences, and getting acquainted with his "Sharon's and Linda's," for him to never treveal the object of his search is slightly disappointing. Binx realizes that he is definitely in need of something. Maybe he does not know what it is he needs or is searching for? But since the audience is left to wonder, I think it is safe to say he is in search of something intangible, and I personally would assume that he is in search for more than one particular thing.
On the way to Aunt Emily's house "..An idea of a search occurs to him. The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life." This can definitely make one assume that the search is off the focus of himself, and onto other people and human behavior. Going to the movies is a way of escape for Binx, "Before I see a movie it is necessary for me to learn something about the theater or the people who operate it, to touch base before going inside." Which is exactly what Binx does by talking to the movie owner and making conversation with the ticket booth lady as well. I think his goal is to try to understand both the beauty and complexity of people, and through characters like Kate, Aunt Emily, Aunt Edna, Sam yerger, Mercer, Lonnie, all his brothers and sisters, and all the other characters we meet throughout the story, he is able to take something from each of them to form his conclusion in the search. For example, Binx walks down canal Street hoping he will catch a glimpse of William Holden. He is so fascinated with a young couple. He says "They are twenty, twenty-one, and on their honeymoon.Not Southern. Probably Northeast..." Binx goes into a furhur description of the couples physical appearence and then says "...they find themselves surrounded by couples from Memphis and Chicago. He is anxious; He is threatened from every side. Each stranger he passes is a reproach to him, every doorway a threat. What is wrong? he wonders." Binx acts as of he really wants to understand the boy, not only his physical but mental state as well.
Another search that Binx may have been be looking for is to be able to become the director in his own "movie" (or life).At the end of the book, all that he controlled was kate, his finally somewhat stable wife. Kate says "It seems to me that if we are together a great deal and you tell me the simplest things...tell me things like: Kate, it is alright for you to go downtown to the drugstore..." It is as if Kate asks Binx to be her director. "Im going to sit next to the window on the lake side and put the cape jasmine in my lap?" Binx simply replies "thats right." He is the director, Kate is the actor. She listens, but in actuality, one can only have so much control over his/her life. You can choose to go to medical school or choose to have a wife, but destiny and fate unfortunately is not in our hands.
I do not want to say that Binx is unsuccessful in his search, but one can never fully understand the human mind and how and why people operate the way they do. Every character in the moviegoer is different, and besides Kate who is bipolar, it is impossible to put a finger on an exact reason of why people act as they do in the "everydayness" of their lives. Even after Uncle Jules requests for him to travel to Chicago for business, Binx describes it as "Mosying down Michigan Avenue in the neighborhood of five million strangers, each shooting out his personal ray? How can I deal with five million personal rays?" How is it humanly possible for him to understand the diversity of so many people? He also says at the start of his search "Really it is very simple, at least for a fellow like me; so simple that it is easily overlooked." Lastly, maybe he realizes that the search really isn't that simple and may take more time than he has. I think ultimately though, Binx got just enough satisfaction he needed in this undefined search, allowing him to call it off.
First of all, I just want to say that this is a great response. I couldn't help thinking as I was reading, "Man! Why didn't I use as much detail in my post?"
ReplyDeleteAnyway, you brought up a lot of good points. I completely agree that Binx's search is for something "intangible". We know that he fears dead everydayness, despair, the malaise, and becoming "No one Nowhere". His search, then, must be for something that opposes these things he hates. In my blog, I thought Binx was searching for a deeper meaning in life. Of course, 10 people could come up with 10 different definitions of the word "meaning".
Like we talked about in class last week, the book does have a slight connection to Kierkegaard. This can be seen from the quote in the front of the book, as well as certain concepts (repetition, etc.) found within the novel. That's why I decided Binx was searching for deeper purpose in life, meaning a progression from the aesthetic, to the ethical, and finally to the spiritual level.
That's what I decided, anyway. The thought hadn't even occurred to me that Binx might be seeking a "director" role in life! That would definitely fit in with the story! It is clear that, even though he seems to be following his Aunt Emily's orders by going to medical school, he does assume the role of a director in Kate's life. Maybe that role did satisfy his search, at least a little.
-Holly
I agree with you; Binx is definitely searching for something intangible that can't be defined to one singular thing. But I'm not sure if it is toward other people or general human behavior. The impression I got from Binx was that he was hardly interested in the people around him, because they are essentially all the same, or at least the same in the sense that they all fit into nice little cookie-cut categories. People will, at times, make categorizing people into a game and make up some story about them… while I do think that Binx does that to some extent for sheer pleasure, he also does it because it allows him to cope with his life.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea about Binx being a director and Kate being his actress; they do fit those titles perfectly, don’t they? Kate has a hard time coping with her life (as does Binx, but that’s certainly less prominent a theme) and Binx being her director and pretty much telling her what to do all the time gives her a sense of security… that since Binx has verified what she wants to do as being an acceptable plan of action, she can proceed comfortably without fear of “messing up.” When she is forced to deal with something at least a tiny bit traumatic, she starts to tear at her fingers, peeling the skin off – and then Binx must come to her rescue and reassure her, and direct her in what she needs to do next.
No, there is certainly no way to understand every facet of a human being and, like you said, how they operate. It just goes to show how you can’t just slap a nice, medical label on everyone and medicate them until they become, essentially, robots.
The suggestion of Binx wanting to be the director of his own movie is very insightful. I feel like their happiness together comes from the fact that he and Kate are individually content with playing a role that fulfills them. Kate wants the direct commands from him so that she doesn’t have to constantly feel the pressure of her mistakes like she did before, and Binx is directing because of his need to understand the “scene” to the deepest level, just like he used to do when movie going. You stated this idea in your second paragraph very well when you said “I think his goal is to try to understand both the beauty and complexity of people”. His search was full of analysis about nearly every person he encountered, perhaps because he felt that he needed to understand everyone in his environment before he could decide where he belonged. A possible example of this is when he talks about all of the people in Chicago, each sending out their own personal rays, which would overwhelm him.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with most of your views about The Moviegoer, and you pointed out a lot of ideas that I had missed entirely. I never thought of Binx as a type of director for his life or Kate's life, but after you mentioned it that does make sense and it makes the entire book seem more relevant to the actual title. I'm not sure though if that what Binx is searching for though, and it seems like he might have just gotten trapped in the director role for Kate, but I do see where that could make sense because Binx may find meaning in his life by being Kate's director. I also never really understood why Binx takes the extra effort and time to get to know the movie owners, employees, and random facts about the theaters that he went to, but your blog gave an interesting insight about it. Binx’s search might have more to do with his surroundings and people more than his own life, or at least Binx may think these facts about others will help him in his own, individual search in some way. I agree with your conclusion about Binx's search and that there really isn't a definite answer stating whether or not he was successful because he doesn't even know what he's searching for.
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