At the end of the novel, I feel mixed about whether or not Binx actually reaches the religious stage of existentialism.
I do, however, feel that he has reached the ethical stage. Throughout the entire story, it is very clear that he is looking for something to complete his life. He’s on a quest for something new, something to break out of the “everydayness” that plagues the one’s around him. This is obviously Binx in his aesthetic stage.
I sense a change when I read the epilogue, and towards the end of the book. When he and Kate decide to get married, it isn’t for love, it is for the strange purpose of keeping Kate okay. Or at least that is what I seem to think. Therefore; I feel as though Binx is doing some sort of moral justice by being with her, he may not love her, he even says so. He does care for her though, and it is clear that she is important to him. He does know that he makes her somewhat better, and I think he is content with that. I think he somehow gives his life meaning through helping her.
You can sense a change in Binx in the epilogue. In the start of the novel, he is skeptical of everyone. He just doesn’t seem to be happy about anything. Always conscious of where he is and what he is doing, and how everyone seems to fit in around him. Nothing holds any emotion, it’s all apathetic, and it is even when he’s talking with people that seem to be close to him. He is constantly analyzing and not really living. On page 50 he and his aunt are speaking, but I don’t get a sense of any real feeling, all of his answers are short and unresponsive. She asks Binx “What is it you want out of life, son?”, and he only responds with “I don’t know’m. But I’ll move in whenever you want me.” He shrugs off the question, like it does not matter. It just seems like such an empty response for a loaded question like that one.
Looking at the end of the novel, Binx has seemed to change. He has become responsive emotionally to some degree. When Lonnie is in the hospital dying, he seems to understand something that he did not before. On page 239 when he is talking to Therese and she asks if Lonnie is going to die, instead of answering with a simple yes (like I imagine aesthetic Binx to answer), he follows up with something comforting. He says: “He told me to give you a kiss and tell you that he loved you.” He is just being extremely good with his brothers and sisters, and I don’t see the old Binx delving into such a sweet conversation with anyone.
The religious stage is a little far fetched for Bolling. He states in the Epilogue (273) that “religion; it is something to be suspicious of”. I don’t believe he’s made that leap of faith thus far if he is still skeptical of it. On page 197 Kate makes another statement that makes me think that Binx may not ever reach that religious stage. She says: “You can do it because you are not religious. You are the unmoved mover. You don’t need God or anyone else..”. There seems to be this overall feeling that Binx is not religious. He avoids religion entirely, so I don’t see him that far yet.
Ultimately, Kate has made me feel as though he has something to take care of. Now I feel as though he wants to be ethically right. That he is no longer looking for a new something everyday, because everyday he is responsible for Kate. Binx doesn’t sound so drab in the epilogue. He sounds like he’s found something to make him content for now.
Reading and Writing 