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Originally Posted by issybird
It's obvious to me that I don't see Bendrix as being as rotten as others do. He was adrift, he was miserable - if Sarah didn't judge him but thought him full of love, I'm willing to take him on that basis. It doesn't mean that I defend his going to Savage, but I don't think his worst actions define him. He was fighting his own demons.
ETA: Does anyone have an idea what the name "Bendrix" could mean? I haven't come up with a satisfactory interpretation. I take Savage to mean someone entirely without a moral compass. Miles I read as the Latin word "soldier." Bendrix is odd enough that I think it's not random, but what?
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Two quotes that define the Bendrix character for me, one from the start, pretty much our introduction to the character:
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‘How’s Sarah?’ I asked because it might have seemed odd if I hadn’t, though nothing would have delighted me more than to have heard that she was sick, unhappy, dying.
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and one from closer to the end:
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In the taxi I let my hand lie on her leg like a promise, but I had no intention of keeping my promise.
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Everything, from start to finish, always about himself, with no care or concern for anyone around him. Even as we get to the absolute end:
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You’ve robbed me of enough, I’m too tired and old to learn to love, leave me alone for ever.
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it's still all about Bendrix. If this was Greene is disguise, I find it perfectly obvious why he should have struggled with his faith.
As for the name "Bendrix", it made me think of Benadryl - it's been around since 1946, apparently. Doesn't seem likely. Not sure this helps either:
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‘It’s a long time since we’ve seen you, Bendrix.’ For some reason I am a man known by his surname—I might never have been christened for all the use my friends make of the rather affected Maurice my literary parents gave me.
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, but I did wonder if it was significant to the author.