In Section Two, Chapter Six, of The Moviegoer, Binx explains how he believes he relates to Jewish people because he feels like an outcast. He claims that he can sense “Jewish vibrations” and that he was “a Jew in a previous incarnation,” (88-89). He goes so far as to say “it is true that I am Jewish by instinct. We share the same exile,” (89). Additionally, he finds a connection in the fact that many solitary moviegoers like himself are Jewish.
I think it is important to note that none of the connection he feels to them is religious. Binx does have a sort of religious journey throughout the book, but this is not part of that. This feels like a victim complex. It is true that Binx struggles to relate to other people, but one could argue that it is his own doing. He looks down on others for a long time, judging them for their “everydayness”. He believes that they are dead, and their conversations bore him.
In this case, Jewish people are outcasts because of antisemitism. The Moviegoer was written less than two decades after World War II, and although the U.S. didn’t set up its own concentration camps for Jewish people, it was still full of hostility towards them. Binx could (and arguably does by the end of the book) change his outlook on life and other people in order to fit in. However, no one should be asked to change their religion or ethnicity, which is impossible in any case, in order to be treated with respect.
Binx’s belief that they are sharing the same exile betrays his arrogance. He might believe he is being treated unfairly because he does not fit in, but is he not the one treating others unfairly because of their mediocrity? Is he not the one passing judgment on them for finding meaning in lives that he believes are meaningless? You cannot expect to be given respect from people you don’t respect in turn, and he doesn’t seem to understand that he is being disrespectful in the first place. People can pick up on other’s demeanors and outlooks. If Binx outwardly finds them boring, he is not acting like someone who anyone wants to be around.
To relate oneself to an entire population of people who have been discriminated against in the worst ways imaginable because you’re both “outcasts” is entirely too assumptive for my taste. However, this chapter is still relatively early on in the story, and Binx left plenty of time to redeem himself.