I think that Binx has settled in his search for meaning. Throughout the novel he is going to movies and experiencing life in the very descriptive manner in which he does in an attempt to find meaning in life outside his own experiences. He was super sensitive to the outside world. He has this sort of mundane lifestyle in which he goes about life in a particularly normal way. True life has its own way of issuing out particular experiences to specific individuals, but ultimately Binx found that his life was not any more special than anyone else he came into contact with. Kate seemed a particular interest of his out of all the women he was involved with probably because she was as afraid of life as he was. When he comes to the realization that life is not about the happiness you bring about unto yourself, but the happiness in which you instill in others, does he find a true meaning to his life.
The author brings reference to Kierkegaard in the beginning of the book in order to set a tone in which the character (Binx) would progress throughout then novel. Binx showed signs of all 3 stages of life as in regard to Kierkegaard. Stage One is the aesthetic stage in which Binx falls victim to sensuous desires. He enjoys the company of women and partaking in the act of sex. Much as most of us from time to time. The Second Stage is the Ethical Stage. As Kierkegaard would put it… “This is where an individual begins to take on a true direction in life, forming a commitment to oneself and others.” Binx does this throughout the book with his commitment to his Aunt. But to me, the defining moment came when Kate asks Binx, “What do you think is the purpose of life… to go to the movies and dally with every girl that comes along?” At this moment Walker Percy describes something taking place inside Binx in a description of Kate’s action signifying something… ‘A ledger lies on her desk… she closes it briskly and smiles up at me, a smile which, more than anything which has gone before, marks an ending. Binx noticed at that moment he needed to make a decision upon where his commitment lied with Kate. And by the end of the novel he gives her further assurance by stating that he will always think of her in all that he does. The Third Stage is the religious stage. The ethical and the religious are intimately connected: a person can be ethically serious without being religious, but the religious stage includes the ethical. Binx comes to a head with this stage but does not particularly deal with it. He states that he is of his mother’s family and so he naturally shy’s away from the subject of religion… is it something to be suspicious of…
Not until the end did Binx finally accept what his life was to encompass. There is evidence that; he has not found what he is looking for, but, he has come to an end in his quest for meaning. He makes a reference at the end, “I watched her walk toward St. Charles, cape jasmine held against her cheek, until my brothers and sisters call out behind me.” That line to me means that he is comfortable enough with Kate to fall victim of “everydayness” in the simplest act of watching her hold a flower against her face that he has bestowed upon her. He forgot everything else that was going on around him, the children he had spoken to, the errand he was to run for Kate and everything… To bask in the malaise that is Kate at that moment.
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