The Moviegoer: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Moviegoer" features a rich exploration of its major characters, primarily focusing on John Bickerson "Binx" Bolling, a twenty-nine-year-old Southern man grappling with existential questions as he approaches his thirtieth birthday. Binx's perspective on life is heavily influenced by his fascination with films, viewing reality as a cinematic experience that reflects his detachment and skepticism. His interactions with his great-aunt Emily Cutrer reveal her role as a cultured matriarch who attempts to guide both Binx and her stepdaughter Kate, who is struggling with deep emotional turmoil after the loss of her fiancé.
Kate Cutrer is portrayed as a fragile and beautiful figure on the verge of despair, battling her mental health issues exacerbated by substance use. Binx's decision to take her on a trip to Chicago serves as a pivotal moment in the narrative, fostering her recovery and ultimately leading toward their marriage. The character of Emily Cutrer embodies the traditional Southern woman, attempting to instill cultural values while dealing with her family's complexities. In contrast, Jules Cutrer, her husband, represents a more subdued figure, embodying the fading ideals of Southern masculinity. Walter Wade, Kate's former fiancé, further illustrates the challenges of modern manhood against the backdrop of Southern heritage. Together, these characters create a nuanced narrative that reflects themes of identity, familial obligation, and the search for meaning.
The Moviegoer: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Walker Percy
First published: 1961
Genre: Novel
Locale: Primarily suburbs of New Orleans, Louisiana
Plot: Social realism
Time: The early 1960's
John Bickerson “Binx” Bolling, a twenty-nine-year-old class-bound Southerner given to the arts, culture, and education. Binx's approach to his thirtieth birthday provokes an archetypal quest for meaning in his life. He is skeptical and existential, with a detachment from self that is metaphorically expressed: He sees himself and life itself as comparable to film figures and motion pictures. Moviegoing is a way to study life; more explicitly, life is a kind of existence in a movie: The replication has become the reality. The novel has very little action. Binx has long discussions about life with great-aunt Emily Cutrer, who solicits his help in dealing with her stepdaughter, Kate, who is going through what was then called a “nervous breakdown.” Binx takes Kate with him on a kind of escape trip to Chicago, where she more or less returns to normal and Binx more or less finds himself. At the end, it is revealed that the two will marry.
Kate Cutrer, Binx's adoptive distant cousin, beautiful, gracious, genteel, and fragile. In confronting her problems, Kate is always on the edge of despair leading toward suicide. Her fiancé was killed in a car wreck, leaving her distraught and turning to pills and liquor. As the story unfolds, she rids herself of Walter Wade, a rather silly young man to whom she is engaged. Rescuing her from what will surely be a successful suicide attempt, Binx takes her with him on his train trip to Chicago. The excursion serves to return her stability, which, in turn, makes it possible for her to marry Binx.
Emily Cutrer, Binx's great-aunt and Kate's stepmother. Refined, articulate, and culture-bound, Emily has been a surrogate mother to both Binx and Kate. She serves in the story as the last truly good Southern woman, one who had hoped to pass on her culture to Binx, because Kate is not mentally stable enough to be a worthy inheritor. Emily is the reigning matriarch of the family, controlling and governing the action of all in a rather effectual way. She fails, however, to force Binx to act responsibly. He upsets her by taking the trip to Chicago with Kate. The last main action of the novel is her delivery of a sermon to Binx after his return. Binx fails to repent his ways and thereby matures.
Jules Cutrer, Emily's husband and Kate's father. Charming, delightful, and socially innocuous, Jules is a post-Southern emasculated gentleman. He is acceptable and steady but only a mere shadow of what his fathers had been in legend. Honorably, he loves his wife and daughter.
Walter Wade, Kate's fiancé, a man with a fraternity house demeanor. He is a son of the Old South and also represents the worst of manhood in the New South. He is a good old boy with money and class heritage, and his main activity is to organize an entity for the Mardi Gras parade. As an older college classmate of Binx, they were friends. Kate jilts him.