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percy-l - [percy-l] The Moviegoer - Chapter Two

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Subject: Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion of Walker Percy

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  • From: lowry.charles AT gmail.com
  • To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [percy-l] The Moviegoer - Chapter Two
  • Date: Sat, 13 Jul 2024 12:57:03 -0400

Dear Friends,
>
> I was pleased that Henry asked me to make the first posting of Chapter Two
> (pp. 64-116), because in this same chapter we find (a) the part of The
> Moviegoer I have generally found least interesting, the sale of the family
> fishing camp, and (b) the dialogue at the end of the chapter that I think
> gives us insight into the most significant aspect of the novel. Let us
> begin, and to help us begin, I shall make just a couple observations, at
> which you may smile indulgently, jeer scornfully or nod enthusiastically.
> Please also, by the way, feel free to take up for our group’s benefit any
> part of Chapter Two that I have neglected. It’s a group effort!
>
> * I have said that this chapter contains the section of the novel I find
> least interesting. That is the trip to sell the fishing camp to Mr.
> Sartalamaccia. (pp. 89-96) I don’t see how it advances the action of the
> plot, which is not such a big deal, or draws out any of the important
> characters, which would indeed for this book be a big deal. Help me: what
> am I missing?
>
> * In several places in the novel, Binx insists that he has to get some
> down-to-earth detail about a place before it becomes real to him, or before
> he has a fighting chance to prevent the spirit genie of a place from
> overwhelming him utterly. In our chapter, twice we see the necessity of
> approaching a new place in a very particular way to make it real. We hear
> about this first in regard to the movie theater: “Yet it was here at the
> Tivoli that I first discovered place and time, tasted it like okra. It was
> during a rerelease of Red River a couple years ago that I became aware of
> the first faint stirrings of curiosity about the particular seat I sat in,
> the lady in the ticket booth…” (p. 75) Binx is even more emphatic about
> the thought of just picking up and going to Chicago: “Chicago. Misery
> misery son of a bitch of all miseries. Not in a thousand years could I
> explain it to Uncle Jules, but it is no small thing for me to make a trip,
> travel hundreds of miles across the country by night to a strange place and
> come out where there is a different smell in the air and people have a
> different way of sticking themselves into the world.” (p. 98) The
> perspicacious critic Jessica Hooten Wilson gives us an idea of Binx’s
> hesitation : “Binx sweats and curses over such an assignment because the
> journey removes him from the particularity of his place and time.” What is
> the point of Binx’s necessity to form a connection with anyplace he stops
> at or travels to?
>
> * The chapter concludes with Kate’s trip to Elysian Fields after the supper
> for former Neptune queens. Binx has been alerted that she may be en route,
> so, clad in pajamas and a raincoat, he waits for her on a bus stop bench.
> After she arrives, she speaks to Binx of her psychiatric breakthrough, that
> she is a free being required to meet no one’s expectations but her own.
> Alas, Kate is, in Jay Tolson’s memorable phrase, “someone who has never
> found her footing in the world.” As dawn approaches, then, the old fears
> and insecurities return:

> <<“Ooooh,” Kate groans, Kate herself now. “I’m so afraid.”
> “I know.”
> “What am I going to do?”
> “You mean right now?”
> “Yes.”
> “We’ll go to my car. Then we’ll drive down to the French Market and get
> some coffee. Then we’ll go home.”
> “Is everything going to be all right?”
> “Yes.”
> “Tell me. Say it.”
> “Everything is going to be all right.”>> (p. 116)

> Borrowing now from my Goodreads review, I think this is a truly remarkable
> piece of dialogue. In a medieval romance, this would mean, “Your crops
> won’t fail, the tax collections will be good, your late husband’s evil
> brother will not kidnap your children and seize the crown.” Of course this
> is a modern novel, not a medieval romance. Binx cannot possibly promise
> Kate all of this. Perhaps what he means here is, “Maybe things will be all
> right and maybe they won’t, but either way, I’ll be right here by your
> side.” I am convinced that this is the equivalent of “I love you.” And
> that should be enough. This moment signifies Binx’s acceptance of his
> responsibilities toward Kate. Am I wrong about this? Do I overestimate
> the importance of this scene?
>
> Lagniappe: the first two chapters make up about 45% of the book. So far,
> so good? Would the “average” reader keep reading?
>
> Please feel free to comment on any of these paragraphs, or indeed any other
> material from this chapter.
>
> Chuck Lowry
> Brooklyn, NY



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