In the first 40 pages of “The Moviegoer” by Walker Percy, the main character, John Bickerson Bolling or Binx, is shown as a man of little emotion, who cares very little for those around him in a emotional way. When he loses his brother, he is told by his (great) aunt to be like a soldier, and he agrees it is quite easy for him to act like a soldier. In his relationships with his secretaries, which he describes as “love affairs, I suppose”, he has little regard for the emotional aspect of the relationships, as short as they may be, with the women he has these relations with. He relates most things back to movies in almost a detached way. He also talks of his search for god and himself and relationship to seeking in the terms of answering a survey, but not that he leads into searching for god but also himself, but that he wants to know how to answer these surveys he enjoys filling out, and how few options for seeking there in within these surveys.
I appreciate your thoughtful analysis of the early pages of “The Moviegoer” ! I like how you’ve highlighted Binx’s character as a man seemingly devoid of deep emotion, navigating life with a detached perspective. The way he responds to the loss of his brother, being urged to be like a soldier and readily agreeing, is indicative of his ability to compartmentalize his feelings, almost like a defense mechanism against emotional vulnerability.
Binx’s relationships with his secretaries as “love affairs, I suppose” is a striking observation. It underscores his detachment from emotional connections, even in what might be considered intimate relationships. His penchant for relating everything to movies adds another layer to his emotional distance, as if he’s using films as a buffer between himself and the reality in which he resides in.