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

[hughesl6363 AT aol.com]

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Dear Percy Fans:

        The outside world gets more distracting every day, so I thought I’d 
re-edit my Chapter Four comments and make them a little more succinct and 
offer them as a series of questions, from which you can pick and choose.

1.)     Starting again with Sam Yerger, how do you regard his character? Is 
Percy making fun of him as a chronicler of the South? Aunt Emily holds him in 
high regard, it seems. Were you surprised to find out he had proposed to Kate?

2.)     Binx and Kate’s relationship takes a big leap in Chapter Four. He 
proposes marriage for the second time, and they sleep together.  What does 
Kate have going for her that Sharon lacks for Binx?

3.)       I love his vision of their life together, eating oysters on 
Magazine Street. At the end of Chapter Two, he offers to calm her fears by 
getting coffee in the French Quarter. What else does Binx have going for her?

4.)     What did you think about the eavesdropping from that little alcove 
above the party in Emily’s house?  Broken or indirect communication seems to 
be a recurring theme or technique in Percy’s work.  That newspaper Binx reads 
from the stranger on the train leads him to have that odd dream.  It brings 
to mind the opening of “Lancelot” with the partial message the main character 
reads from his jail cell. In other words, why does Percy use that technique?

5.)     Death seems to haunt the trip to Chicago. The roomettes are like 
“coffins,” the train flies above the cemeteries in Metaire, fields in 
Mississippi are “haunted like battlegrounds” and “the genie-soul of Chicago 
flaps down like a buzzard.” Since Binx contemplates his relationship with his 
father in this chapter, are these images relevant to those thoughts? Does 
Binx compare himself to his father? His failure to satisfy him years ago in 
the museum bothers him, but I think his failure to accept his being the 
godfather to Harold’s baby is relevant; and to me, it’s a way of making light 
of the potential seriousness of the Field museum incident. Some say it 
indicates his father’s suicide—do you agree?  

6.)     Similarly, there is the element of Kate’s drug use.  Sam and Emily 
are convinced she is suicidal. But Kate denies it. Is Kate suicidal?  Or is 
that a case of Percy’s making light of another serious issue?

7.)     That brings up the whole question of tone: Is “The Moviegoer” a story 
of tragedy, or do you consider it a comedy? 

8.)     Finally, one of the provocative statements concerning “moviegoing” is 
Binx’s conclusion about that “romantic” on the trip home: “He is a moviegoer, 
though of course he does not go to movies” (p. 216). How is that?

        I hope I’m not being a nuisance by posting twice. I wouldn’t mind 
hearing of your personal relationship with Percy or his work, if you’d like.

Thanks again for listening,
Leonard


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