Re: Moviegoer and despair


Subject: Re: Moviegoer and despair
From: Rhonda McDonnell (rhonda_mcdonnell@HOTMAIL.COM)
Date: Fri Nov 26 1999 - 00:23:01 EST


I think I'll sidestep further conversation about Binx's movement to,
through, or over the ethical stage, as David's last comment on it truly does
serve as a last word. But, about the Epilogue . . .

Two crucial scenes are juxtaposed as the last two in the novel. The first I
mentioned in an earlier posting, the nod to Dostoyevsky's Brothers
Karamozov, is clear proof of Binx's attainment (however brief) of the
religious stage. This is despite, or perhaps more clearly shown by, his
earlier statement concerning religion: "a peculiar word in the first place,
religion; it is something to be suspicious of." Percy said in a 1986
interview that the last three pages of the Epilogue, particularly Binx's
conversation with his brothers and sisters should answer all questions, just
as reading Alyosha's conversation with the brothers and sisters of Kolia
will do for BK. I don't think we can underestimate the esteem that Percy had
for this particular novel of Dostoyevsky. It seems to me that many of the
answers to our questions might be found in it. Likewise, with Lancelot and
the Inquisition section of BK. I suppose what I'm trying to say on a
Thanksgiving evening when I've had far too much of everything, is that Percy
is doing more than just paying tribute to Dostoyevsky. Instead, he is
building upon and reshaping philosophical concepts that he found in
Dostoyevsky, much as he does with Kierkegaard. I don't know that we can
really get what Percy's all about without Kierkegaard, but, then again, I
don't know that we can get what he's all about without a much larger cast,
which includes Dostoyevsky in a primary role.

Now that I've muddied those water a bit, on to the final scene. In that
scene, for those of you who haven't read it in quite a while, he sends Kate
downtown on her own. The crucial part comes when she asks him "I'm going to
sit by the window on the Lake side and put the Cape Jasmine in my lap?"
When he answers in the affirmative she then asks if he'll be thinking of her
"just that way." His answer in the affirmative seems to provide the kind of
certification for both of them that they previously only found in movies or
in chance spottings of Hollywood types (William Holden. I could argue,
effectively I think, that by certifying her in such a way, he is in the
ethical stage, but I have the sense that this too is indication of the
religious stage--I'm just not sure why.

Rhonda McDonnell
Arizona State University

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