Perhaps I was too hard on Binx Bolling, the titular moviegoer of Walker Percy’s Pulitzer Prize winner.

I initially saw a character ceding personal volition to fit into the image that others had of him.

What if the ending is, like the ending of Brideshead Revisted, inextricably tied to the author’s Catholicism? When you first read Brideshead Revisted (assuming you were young enough), I suspect that you were somewhat appalled by Julia’s decision that she could not divorce her (serially philandering) husband to marry Charles (who would subsequently divorce his unfaithful, estranged wife) because she believed that had to recommit to her Catholic faith. It’s still hard to read, but a little easier, particularly if you view the older Charles as having coming to the same conclusion, that older traditions are worth keeping to.

What if, what I interpreted as a depressing abdication of volition, should rather be taken as an expression of obedience? Handing one’s self over to a higher power, as it were? Now, I’m not saying that his aunt should be interpreted as speaking with the voice of the Holy Spirit, but rather that it could be read as symbolic of a spiritual acceptance of obedience.