Re: Moviegoer and despair


Subject: Re: Moviegoer and despair
From: Rhonda McDonnell (rhonda_mcdonnell@HOTMAIL.COM)
Date: Thu Nov 18 1999 - 21:36:23 EST


David:

When you put it that way, it's darn hard to argue against. I was reading
the medical school decision as a move to the ethical sphere (to use your
word). In that medical school business, I saw Binx doing what his aunt
thought he "ought" to do. But when you isolate that particular passage, it
certainly holds up well as being more than Binx recognizing that he owes a
debt to his fellow humans as they do to him. Instead, picking up on your
idea of being "handed along" -- in helping others and being helped by them
-- Binx perceives his doctor's role as more of a minister in the old sense
of the word.

I can't help arguing against the two of us a bit, though, since the passage
you cited is followed immediately by Kate asking him if he is to attend
medical school, and Binx answering, "If she [Aunt Emily] wants me to." This
leads me to question his motives, as the decision at this point might be
nothing more than the inevitable conclusion of his visit with Aunt Emily,
which ended with him thinking:

"Nothing remains but desire, and desire comes howlin down Elysian Fields
like a mistral. My search has been abandoned; it is no match for my aunt,
her rightness and her despair, her despairing of me and her despairing of
herself. Whenever I take leave of my aunt after one of her serious talks, I
have to find a girl."

With all that in mind, Binx's plan to listen to his fellow man could be read
as Aunt Emily's brand of humanism.

What do you think?

Rhonda McDonnell
Arizona State University

>From: David Alan Beck <dabeck@IUPUI.EDU>
>Reply-To: Walker Percy Literary and Philosophic Topics
><PERCY-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
>To: Multiple recipients of list PERCY-L <PERCY-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
>Subject: Re: Moviegoer and despair
>Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 12:31:56 -0500
>
>Rhonda,
>I agree that the scene with the children is an example of the Percean
>religious sphere (more Marcellian than Kierkegaardian). I would argue,
>though, that the "ascension" to the religious is made before that scene.
>A telling example is when Binx decides to go to medical school. He states:
>
>"There is only one thing that I can do: listen to people, see how they
>stick themselves to the world, hand them along a ways in their dark
>journey, and be handed along, and for good and selfish reasons."
>
>This passage gives a good indication of Binx's realization of the need for
>intersubjectivity. Notice how he wants to listen to others and watch them
>(treating them as 'thous') and help them. What I see as important is that
>he is not out to "fix" others; he also wants to be "handed along." In
>other words, it is a two-way street. He is not objectifying another as
>"patient", "one needing help," etc. but as a fellow-wayfarer whom he can
>help and by whom he can be helped (sorry for the stuffy academic-sounding
>sentence).
>
>Of course, the "stages" or, I think more accurately, the "spheres," are
>not static. We move in and out with fluidity. But it seems that the
>evidence of his "ascent" happens in this section.
>
>Any thoughts?
>
>David Beck
>
>"Our life is a faint tracing on the surface of mystery, like the idle,
>curved tunnels of leaf miners on the face of a leaf."
> - Annie Dillard
> from "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek"
>
>
>
>On Wed, 17 Nov 1999, Rhonda McDonnell wrote:
>
> > Jim--Not only does the Augustine reference shed some light on the
>despair
> > topic, but might also have something to do with W.P.'s take on the
> > Kierkegaard's stages. In an interview, Percy said something to the
>effect
> > that he agrees with S.K. regarding the aesthetic and the ethical stages,
>but
> > when it comes to the Religious stage, Kierkegaard got it all wrong.
>What
> > follows then is, if I remember rightly, Percy's assertion that the
>Religious
> > stage must, in part, be communal (to use your language). Augustine's
> > influence might be coming into play there. So, in the last scene of The
> > Moviegoer, when Binx tells the children Lonnie will rise on the last day
>and
> > be as they are and the children shout hurray (a la Dostoyevsky), Binx's
> > ascension to the religious stage happens there because, in part, of his
> > relationship with the children. Not surprisingly, he seems free of
>despair
> > and malaise as well.
> >
> > Rhonda McDonnell
> > Arizona State University
> >
> > >From: Jim Woods <TrlBlzrOne@AOL.COM>
> > >Reply-To: Walker Percy Literary and Philosophic Topics
> > ><PERCY-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
> > >To: Multiple recipients of list PERCY-L <PERCY-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
> > >Subject: Re: Moviegoer and despair
> > >Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 07:23:39 EST
> > >
> > >Re: the thread on despair I offer some ruminations...
> > >
> > >For an eye opener I commend reading Augustine's Confessions,
>particularly
> > >his
> > >discussion of his conversion. Key to that were his contacts through
>his
> > >mother with the Christian community...both in the form of prayer and in
>the
> > >form of catechesis. In other words, the move from gnostic despair to
>faith
> > >on Augustine's part involved not simply a personal change of view, but
> > >movement toward a community and finally, participation in a community
>in
> > >which despair is seen for what it is:angelism/aestheticism as a prop
>for
> > >pride. Despair can be a waystation on the journey toward faith or it
>can
> > >become the final 'blind spot' of pride.
> > >
> > >A contrast with Augustine, and a fine presentation of the
> > >angelism/aestheticism is Rouseau's Confessions. His writing epitomizes
> > >what
> > >Kierkegarrd meant by 'despair not being aware that it is despair--e.g.
>the
> > >'final blind' spot of pride. Rouseau, if he were alive would be on ALL
>the
> > >talk shows...
> > >
> > >Relative to the discussion of this thread here, there is a fine essay
>(a
> > >commencement address, actually) by Marion Montgomery in the October
>Issue
> > >of
> > >First Things which can be found
> > >at:http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9910/opinion/montgomery.html
>The
> > >essay's title is Angelism and the Provincial Self. This might interest
> > >some
> > >on the board.
> > >
> > >And, in closing, a Blessed and happy Thanksgiving to all!
> > >
> > >jim
> > >
> >
> > ______________________________________________________
> > Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
> >

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