Repetitions and Performances

I agree with you Akshaya. The idea that postmodernism is “the fragmentation of time into a series of perpetual presents” really made me think too. I have often wondered about time and its impact on people, such as how different people view time, how people remember the past, and how our mind separates certain portions of our lives chronologically. Perhaps it is because our minds separate events based on time that we experience strange feelings of “déjà vu” when we complete “successful repetitions.” Our lives are so accustomed to being run chronologically in time that a similar action in a different time period may startle people. For example, I sometimes experience déjà vu when playing sports or walking around my home town (I’ve lived in the same house since I was three). A repetition gives me a weird feeling, but it also comforts me that things have not changed over time. However, it seems as though Binx enjoys these moments because he refers to them as “successful.” These moments make him feel alive, and lead him to believe that the time period between the repetitions does not exist.

*To check out a movie along these themes, see Denzel Washington's Deja Vu.



There are only a few moments in the novel when Binx admits that he feels “alive.” He mentioned that the first time he truly felt alive was when he was lying on the ground in Korea, among the battling soldiers, and he saw a dung beetle crawling across the ground. He felt alive because he was finally experiencing real, intense emotions. The soldiers were acting out of their primal instincts, as opposed to their everyday, calculated emotions and actions. They were finally real.

At times in my life, I have also felt this feeling of fakeness in others. It is a feeling that everyone is just acting; no one is real while everyone is just trying to be the “nice guy”. However, I can understand this performance because I have done the same many times. I have put on an act to not show my true emotions or opinions. I feel that this is just part of being human. We have the ability to plan our actions and social interactions, so people typically act in the way they think others want them to act. We’ve all been guilty of it, and it seems that Binx and Kate are well aware of this fact of humanity.

Nicholas Keith