Throughout the novel the main characters disregard love and are quite selfish in this. This is never addressed though in the book, and made it quite awkward to read. Binx for example near the beginning of the book explained how he keeps having affairs with his secretaries and how they always eventually break up with him getting bored. He knows this about himself yet later in the book becomes romantically involved with his new secretary. This is problematic for a number of reasons, first he knows that he is using her but she never really knows this, as-well as Sharon the secretary is also married. Sharon’s cheating never even plays a factor and Binx is completely fine with this. This disregard for love happens throughout, yet is really never addressed and I believe this puts a bad light onto Binx as a character. This happens again with Binx’s cousin Kate. She eventually breaks off her engagement and really messes with her past fiance by delaying the marriage, leading him on and eventually leaving him at the last second. Kate, Sharon and Binx romantically are all very selfish characters, but for some reason the book doesn’t really address this or even mention this fact. Binx even doesn’t really even seem bothered by his actions or those around him aswell.
Categories
Great American Novels 