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Chapter 2, Section 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Moviegoer, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Value Systems
Women, Love, and Sex
Modern Life and the Search for Meaning
Loss, Suffering, and Death
Summary
Analysis
Later that day, Binx decides to begin a new scheme connecting his two current loves: money and Sharon. He sets Sharon to work writing letters to customers about their income taxes. She agrees to work late, but around five, her boyfriend walks in. Binx thinks him ugly and is encouraged by this, deciding that the boyfriend serves as a handy foil. As the evening wears on, Binx suspects that Sharon senses his interest in her. At 7:30 p.m., Binx finds it “natural” to offer Sharon a ride home. Despite his longing to invite her for a drink, he remains a gentleman the whole time.
Binx steps up his plans to woo Sharon and isn’t even deterred by the existence of her boyfriend—all this suggesting that Binx is pursuing a fantasy version of their relationship, not something authentic. It also suggests that Binx is so consumed by his search that sometimes he doesn’t look closely enough at what’s right in front of him.
Themes
