In Walker Percy’s book, The Moviegoer, the main character Binx seems like any ordinary womanizing man. From the title, I expected he would be an avid movie watcher instead of a self-proclaimed film enthusiast. The book is well written and I believe it shows how well Binx is written by my distaste for him as a person. The readers are taken on this ride through Binx’s current state of life. Through his “time” with his secretaries, his time at the movie theater, and time with his family. He spends quite a bit of time in the book explaining what he sees and feels.
He doesn’t even have “depth” in his search for- well we are not entirely sure what he is searching for he doesn’t state it and instead states it would be too complicated, but I believe it is meaning to his existence or life itself. Binx is full of despair and is an overall “debbie downer” or “negative nancy” and it leads him on this quest of finding the meaning of life. He uses his secretaries to feel something, but in the end he does get married. I wouldn’t say Binx is a complex character or even has a lot of depth, he just has bad coping strategies, though he comes across as if he wants to be “complex.”
He is simply a result of what he feels; and instead of getting to the bottom of it or trying to understand, he tends to use the women around him. Binx seems quite boring in his nature, but again it shows he is well written by my distaste for him. He wants more in life and he is sick of how he feels. Though being depressed and womanizing doesn’t make for a “complex character.” He complains a lot about New Orleans specifically in the beginning, but as the book goes on he complains about everything. Nothing seems to be good enough for him, but maybe this is why he is full of so much melancholy. He tries feeling his void with women which obviously doesn’t work and makes some readers despise him.
Although, I feel like it is a fairly realistic book. Someone feeling the void with meaningless sex then running off on a search for a deeper meaning for life – that is what a lot of people do with college. Binx is just an ordinary person.