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First off, I want to say that this book was really hard for me to read.  The beginning of this book sent me spiraling down a rabbit hole in which I questioned my entire existence and purpose as a human. I basically had an existential crisis at every page turn. Binx was talking about this search and that “the search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life” (9), which made me think that I, too, was sunk in the everydayness of life and unaware of my purpose. So I found it extremely difficult to pay attention to what was occurring in the book while I questioned the last 20 years of my life.

As I continued reading, my own “search” was still in the back of my mind; maybe that is why it started to get dry for me. The only thing that was truly able to grab my attention was the section with Kate’s “tight rope” metaphor to her mental illness, which I thought was beautifully written. Other than that, up until the end, I found the story dry. I do not doubt that this novel is quite complex, so I will do my best to describe what I noticed while I read. That being said, due to the existential question that occurs within the reader and begs to be answered throughout, I think that the best things to say about this novel would come after reading it another one or two times. That way I could try to take in the other elements of the novel that I missed the first time through. However, if one purpose of literature is to make one think and question, the book was effective. I think that is a reason as to why it was the winner of the National Book Award.

Binx Bolling is your average everyday man of the late 1950s. He lives “uneventfully in Gentilly, a middle-class suburb of New Orleans” (3). He has a mundane job where he manages “a small office branch of his uncle’s brokerage firm” (3). He is, all and all, a stereotypical white middle-class man “sunk in the everydayness of his own life” (9). That is until he wakes up one morning and decides that he needs to go on “a search.” What he is looking for exactly is unclear to himself but, none the less he continues. At the end of the novel, Binx’s Aunt asks him the questions “What do you love? what do you live by? … What do you think is the purpose of life…?”(198). But to these questions, he gives her no answer. However, being asked these questions makes him realize that the answer to them is what he has been searching for all along.

The search for one’s purpose in life is a question many people struggle with. In fact, it may be one of the biggest philosophical questions in human existence. Because this existential crisis is one that many people go through, lots of people can relate to Binx as a character. If one was not already questioning or searching for their purpose, this book will draw their attention to that question. I think that is why this book was so popular, it is not about the characters, it is about a larger overarching universal idea. The Moviegoer presents a universal struggle that many people can identify with. Watching one navigate the ups and downs that take place in the search for one’s meaning in life can give people hope that they might be able to find one’s own meaning, too.

One Response to “Existentialism in The Moviegoer”

  1. Theresa: Despite your struggles with this book, you produced a fine post here. And I agree that if you take the time to re-read the novel, you’ll enjoy it more fully and find that Binx’s search for existential meaning continues to resonate for you.

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