Finder and Maker reversed in The MoviegoerWalker Percy's novel The Moviegoer chronicles a week in the life of stockbroker Binx Bolling and his eventual marriage to his cousin-in-law Kate Cutrer. More than that, it describes Binx's particular philosophy, Kate's equally strange orientation, and their eventual transposition. Binx begins as a reality enjoyer, a seeker or seeker of relief from boredom, and Kate as a frenzied seeker who becomes a creator of crises to relieve her post-modern boredom. But by the end of the novel, their starting positions are almost reversed, blended together to form a healthier relationship. Binx and Kate are self-aware characters in a world of actors, the only ones who realize the inherent falsity, the clichés. , in all things. The characters themselves resemble the pseudonyms of movie stars: Binx Bolling, Lyle Lovell, Walter Wade, with their assonance, they resemble Robert Redford, James Earl Jones, the too memorable nicknames of movie stars. Mercer, Aunt Emily's servant, "weaves between servility and presumption" (p. 17), sometimes in one direction, sometimes in the other, with a dignified appearance but "behind the mustache, his face... does not is not at all devoted but is also sulky like a Pullman porter. (ibid.) Even Mercer's exaggerated breathing while serving the dishes (pp. 156-157) is the act of a stereotypical servant made ridiculous. Binx's biological mother displays "an affection carefully guarded against the personal, the sincere, an affection deliberately made banal." (p. 139) The radio show "I Believe" (p. 95) is a collection of hackneyed platitudes, and Binx's "pleasant tingling in the groin" afterwards (p. 96) reveals itself as nothing other than moral masturbation. Binx's Theosop... middle of paper ...... the details are still there -- "Why is he so yellow?" “He has hepatitis.” (p. 209) But Kate seems healthier, whether due to the treatment with Merle or the association with Binx. And his self-destructive practice of creating crisis seems repressed: instead, Binx has become his director, his “cinematographer.” The care with which they prepare for her ride - which tram to take, where to sit, where to wear her Jasmine cape - is like the close-up composition of a camera shot, all so that Binx, through his imagination, can keep Kate “focused” and sane. He is no longer the passive observer, but the active arranger; she is no longer the creator of uncontrollable crises, but an obedient actress in search of direction. Binx moved on to the true movie buff's dream: he became a director. Works Cited Percy, Walker. The movie buff. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc..., 1961.