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

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The list is back up and running so here are my responses to Charles Lowry on Chapter Two.

I have given my responses to Chuck's post inline in colored text.

Janet Cantor

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!

For openers I want to say that I found a lot in this section of the book funny. That for me is one of the pleasures of reading The Moviegoer, how funny it is. Binx describes his passion for Sharon which he knows it is too soon to express. So far Sharon seems oblivious to his ardor. He is proprietary about her (My Sharon would not read tripe like that) yet makes no move. It is all ardor but only in his head. 

On page 73 reread the paragraph beginning "Evening is the best time in Gentilly." Now that is gorgeous writing offering the scene perfectly. The book has many gems like that and by themselves they make this section worth reading.

The next few pages offer us a sweet portrait of an isolated ticket taker, and observations of a manager of poorly attended movie showings. Each could make a good short story. Nothing in the writing is wasted in this novel even if it seems tossed off.

There are more gems in this section. Here is one:

At the top of page 73 Binx is watching television, describing Dick Powell being moved by the town to do more good. 

Fiction.

Then Binx realizes it is time to pick up Kate. 

Reality.

Along the way to get Kate Binx offers us some more definitions that limn his search.

Page 83, Kate tells Binx that he is not paying attention and could be missing something big. What does she mean? Could it be bigger and more important than his search?

 

 * 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?

Up until now we are getting the beginnings of the definitions involved in his search. Lots of talk. But all through I wondered how serious Binx was in this. As soon as he is with his aunt, he knows it is useless even to bring the search up. Where is reality? Is Binx serious about his search, about his lust for Sharon, about anything?

Well he likes making money. And I love that that seeming triviality is the one thing Binx is honest about. He is not convincing me, at least, about the earnestness of his search. The money he can make selling the property gives him honest pleasure. This, for me,  begins the clues about where Binx really is in his mind, no matter what he is railing on about. Mr. Sartalamaccio - of the long, colorful name - offers Binx another deal. You keep your land and we will make a fortune as I develop it. Or I will give you a fifteen thousand for it now. (up from his original offer of eight thousand) For all of Binx's passion for Sharon or the Search, his ears perk up at this offer.

 Sharon had fun too. 

Percy is giving us clues. 

I learned never to judge a play or a book until it is over because I won't know what the author is driving at until then. And I mustn't judge too early about how good the work is. We won't know until the end what this book is on about. Is this part important to the rest of the book? We shall have to read it all and see what we think.

 

 * 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?

So he tells us...

 

 * 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)

Keep this in mind. I will be coming back to it when we do the conclusion.

 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?

No.

(A private note which I will not include when I post this on The List. I remember when you  did your gorgeous talk in New Orleans that you said this then. I loved it when you said it there and I love it here. What do you think of my observations in red?)

 

 Lagniappe: the first two chapters make up about 45% of the book.  So far, so good?  Would the “average” reader keep reading?

People of the Percy List are not average readers. 

***

Please feel free to comment on any of these or anything else in this chapter.

 I could write reams about details in the writing in this section. As you read all Percy novels, try to notice how often he talks about light reflected off of things. It happens often in this section. 

Janet Cantor