The Moviegoer by Walker Percy is interestingly named as the novel itself has less to do with an avid film enthusiast and more to do with a man who is fixated on finding the meaning of life. Jack “Binx” Bolling, also known as the moviegoer, is a stock and bond broker in 1950s New Orleans who when not at work fills his time with money, sex, and more interestingly movies. Binx’s moviegoing is quite different from his other past times as he uses the scenes and the stories within them as an avenue for this “search” that he is on. Binx never really explains what his search is as he states it would be too complicated to explain. However, it is quite obvious that Binx is suffering from what we know to be the human condition. He does not know who he is or why he exists which concludes that this search of his is a search to find the purpose of life.
During Binx’s search he never quite finds an answer to his question. Yet somehow not coming up with an answer is an answer unto itself. At the beginning of this novel it starts off with a quote by Soren Kierkegaard who is referenced again at the end, “… the specific character of despair is precisely this: it is unaware of being despair”. Throughout the novel, Binx regularly talks about malaise, “What is the malaise? You ask. The Malaise is the pain of loss. The world is lost to you. The world and the people in it, and there remains only you and the world and you are no more able to be in the world than Banquo’s ghost (Percy 121)”. There is a clear relation here between the words despair and malaise. Binx explains that he feels most alive when he is experiencing this malaise as it breaks him away from the monotony of life. This may be due to the fact that loss is such a huge part of being human. At any given moment we are experiencing some sort of loss whether it be the loss of time we will never get back, the loss of a relationship, a memory, or even a whole other human.
It is through Binx coming to terms with and fully experiencing the feeling of despair that he feels alive which connects back to the quote at the beginning of the novel. Malaise quite literally is the despair that is explained in the beginning. Binx is aware of his despair(malaise)which allows him to feel alive because being aware of his despair, as the quote states, allows him to have the possibility to rip away from the unauthentic world he lives in. What is unknown to Binx and humans as a whole is how to escape fully from this despair that humans seem to be in perpetually. This discovery that there is no answer is kind of an answer unto itself.
In another scene Binx has another discovery that supplements this conclusion that presents itself, “I had discovered that a person does not have to be this or be that or be anything, not even oneself. One is free (Percy 114)”. The answer to the question of the meaning of life is just that there is no answer. Part of the human condition is that people have the freedom to form their own meaning or purpose. For some, this meaning is found in religion which we can see in Lonnie who is Binx’s half-brother, for others, it is success in a field such as Rory the movie star who is walking around New Orleans at the beginning of the novel. However, this vague answer, if we even want to call it an answer, leaves Binx unsure of what life means to himself as he doesn’t even understand himself.
When Binx returns to Chicago with Kate Cuter, his cousin, after forgetting to inform his aunt that he took his suicidal cousin out of town after she overdosed, his aunt summons him to her house. Aunt Emily is furious with not only Binx’s irresponsibility but also for the fact that he doesn’t act like other upstanding members of their society which deems him unreliable. In this powerful scene Aunt Emily asks Binx, “What do you love? What do you live by? (Percy 226)” to which Binx does not have an answer. So although Binx realizes he doesn’t have to be anything in particular he is still lost as to who he is as an individual. This, however, is part of Binx’s search as he is on both a “vertical” and “horizontal” search. Binx describes his horizontal search as a search for a meaning of the universe. Whereas the horizontal search refers to understanding who he is as a person. Binx came to the conclusion that there is no correct answer for the universe and also still has no idea how to satisfy the answer of who he is.
In the Epilogue, Binx seems to be settling down by marrying Kate and making plans to go to medical school. Binx says that he has nothing further to say about his search. At first glance it seems that Binx is giving up under the pressure of his search but then he says something that could change this conclusion, “…much too late to edify or do much of anything except to plant a foot in the right places the opportunity presents itself- if indeed ass-kicking is properly distinguished from edification” (Percy 236). In a sense, life is just about taking the next best step a person can. There is nothing inherently wrong with someone just doing the best thing they can. In fact, for Binx this realization allowed him to actually find some purpose in his life such as finding a partner who he is helping through life, becoming closer with his mom’s side of the family, and having an opportunity to look into a possible calling. Even though this ending could still be interpreted as Binx giving up it doesn’t really change what the novel has successfully communicated to its readers.
Sure, the end of the novel does seem to leave the audience feeling somewhat disappointed in Binx for not giving readers the answers to the universe yet at the same time there is nothing for him to tell readers other than what they already know. Binx does shed light on the fact that part of life is to feel alive during everyday moments. It is up to us to realize our own disparity in the fact that our life is fleeting and temporary. It is only then can we appreciate every moment by being fully alive. There is in the end a meaning hidden within the “everydayness”.
Lauria: This is a lovely post. Thanks for taking the time to think and write about this novel with such care.