Sunday, April 1, 2012
The Moviegoer seems to be a very dull and mundan journey through the life of an ordinary man with no real meaning. But, the book shows the transformation of "a model tenant and a model citizen [who takes] pleasure in doing all that is expected" (8) into a man who does not want to be seen as plain and average "macaroni" (122). Early in the story there is a description of a living room, "the living room is bright, but it is not snug. The windows are open to the ceiling and the gray sky comes pouring in" (22). At first, as with his life, Binx sees it as bright and full with windows reaching high but as he looks around "it is not snug." There is a contrast that is created, something that seemed so great at first begins to become more and more undesirable.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
While Binx declares that the last thing he wants is to be caught in the everydayness of life, he also accepts that "Everdayness is the enemy. No search is possible" (145). He rises above the rest of the world by vowing: "I'm a son of a bitch if I'll be defeated by the everydayness" (145). What separates Binx from the rest of the world is that he wanders to learn and acheive a sense of meaning to life while others accept the everydayness and never look for depth in a search.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point, Catherine with a C. I also saw a change in Binx. He kind of went from a courageous, searching young man to a 30 year old, married man who has given up the search. What causes such a change? Well I think that perhaps Jack realizes there is nothing out there to search for after all. I think he finds that the "everydayness" which he so tried to avoid earlier, was actually essential in living a full life. At the end of the book, he settles down, goes to medical school, two things I definitely wasn't expecting from the John I met at the beginning of the book. He discovered something in his search, and I think it's that there is more to everydayness than he essentially thought.
ReplyDeleteWe see the same kind of contrast in Binx's relationships with Sharon and Kate. Although he continually professes his love for Sharon throughout the beginning of the book proclaiming "I am in love with Sharon Kincaid" (pg. 67), as soon as he is alone with her he is struck with dissatisfaction- "The remarkable discovery forces itself upon me that I do not love her so wildly as I loved her last night." He goes through a similar interaction with Kate and both of these scenes reminded my of what he had to say about the vertical search that once one obtains what they are searching for, they are just left to live with the product of their search and nothing more. Binx is always searching and once he obtains what he thinks he wants, he lets it go and keeps searching.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Catherine about there being a definite shift, but as I said in class, I think that this shift is not the result of the search, but the product of its absence. Binx watches his life go by in a detached and analytical way as one might watch a movie. He fights against the normality that would force him to be one of the everyday people. He uses the search as a way to stay away from those people who are satisfied with just their everyday lives. As he starts to form a relationship with Kate and his family (especially his Aunt), the futility of his search is demonstrated and it is abandoned. He is forced to engage with his life rather than sit back and "search" for it.
ReplyDelete