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Chapter 3, Section 6
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
On the way home, Binx feels malaise. This isn’t unusual on a Sunday afternoon when crowds of people are driving home from the beach. Binx tries breaking through the malaise by touching Sharon’s thigh, but she bats him away with a firm warning. He relents, no longer feeling enthusiasm for her anyway. Sharon fondly tells Binx that she’s “got [his] number,” but that she still likes him. Now she has to get home to meet somebody.
Binx interprets the letdown after the visit as malaise, going from individual connection with his family to being swallowed up in anonymous masses of people. In keeping with this mood, the brief spark between Binx and Sharon fades, too. Sharon has interpreted their weekend together as a superficial fling, showing once and for all that Binx’s plans were for nothing.
Themes
