Re: "Ghost chapter" in The Moviegoer

Ted Atkinson (tbatkinson@WORLDNET.ATT.NET)
Mon, 14 Apr 1997 12:24:30 +0000

Marcus Smith, you wrote:
>>
>> The reference to "asskicking" is interesting in light of Percy's declaration
>> to Caroline Gordon in a letter (quoted in the Tolson biography) that his
>> writing was an exercise in "asskicking for Jesus' sake."
>
>An interesting connection. But this seems to me to make more obvious the
>issue of where Binx (or WP if you want to make the autobiographical
>link--and I rather doubt that Binx = WP; if WP is "in" TM he is one of
>the other characters, IMHO) acquires the authority to asskick anyone.
>

I did not mean to suggest that Binx = WP, only to point out the use of the
word "asskicking" in light of Percy's letter to Gordon. I think the letter
is intriguing because it is one of the few occasions that Percy discusses
his fictional aims vis-a-vis religion. Whether justified or not (and I tend
to think it is), Binx acquires the authority to "asskick" (which I view in
the prophetic, not literal sense) because he is aware of the possibility of
the search, while others are not. Searchers assume this authority and set
about "asskicking," whether the recipients of this practice like it or not.

I am interested to know which character you think is closer to Percy than Binx.

>>
>> As Percy often mentioned, Binx has undergone a conversion, whether the
>> reader notices it, accepts it, or believes it. In Percy's view, he could
>> not write about this because of his contention that the language of religion
>> has been used up.
>
>Fine. But is this mystery or mystification? Binx has undergone
>"conversion"--but we can't discuss it. Trust me. The author's authority
>cannot be challenged. All readers are children. This makes me
>uncomfortable.
>

This seems to be taking my comments to the extreme. All I wanted to do was
point out what Percy had perhaps intended, based on his comments about
_TMG_. While the author's authority may be in question these days, I still
think the author's analysis and comments bear mentioning. Percy did well
not to make overt reference to the conversion for the same reason he did
well not to craft Percival's response in _Lancelot_.

>>
>> I agree. I think in the Epilogue we find the "essential Binx" coming
>> through. He has moved past the futility of trying to create his "self" (my
>> grandmother always told me not to say "hisself," but I suppose this is only
>> an infraction audibly) based on consumerism, sexual exploits, or his place
>> in the Bolling family and the New Orleans social structure.
>>
>Interesting. Is the "essential Binx" disclosed before the Epilogue? Does
>the text in way support the notion that there is a real (authentic) Binx
>underneath the sexual consumer Garden District white buck boy? I don't
>see it prior to the Epilogue. Therefore, I think the argument that the
>"essential" Binx emerges cannot be verified within the text of TM.
>

It depends on how one defines "real" and "authentic," words that are
"encased in crusts and barnacles," as Percy might say. I believe the text
does support the contention that an authentic Binx emerges from "the sexual
consumer Garden District white buck boy" (a description I love, by the way,
knowing so many of them). The exchange with Kate prior to the Epilogue
suggests to me that Binx is truly communicating with another person, perhaps
for the first time. Kate mentions of the need to speak simply (to recover
the authenticity of language perhaps?) This, of course, precedes Binx's
seeing the man emerge from the church on Ash Wednesday. Then, in the
Epilogue, we find that Binx has married Kate and that he believes in
resurrection. What is so brilliant about Percy's handling of the conversion
is that it is so true to life. Binx doesn't even realize yet what he has
accepted, but he is on the road to that realization. Of course, many
dispute that Binx has made progress, believing instead that he was much
better off chasing his secretaries. Finding the "essential" Binx is a
difficult endeavor because we have our own ideas about what is "essential."
However, within the context of the world Percy creates/reflects in this
novel, Binx has moved from what he feels is a meaningless existence toward
something that he (and many others) find essential indeed.

Ted Atkinson