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Walker Percy The Loss Of Creature Summary

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The Grand Canyon is a remarkably interesting and beautiful place, as Walker Percy refers to in his essay “The Loss of Creature”. How can sightseers hold the same “value P” if they possess “the symbolic complex which has already been formed in the sightseer’s mind” (Percy1)? In his essay, Percy discusses his theory that humans aren’t getting the full value of life because they live off of preconceptions and expectations. Percy provides the reader with a number of examples to help illustrate his point in which he believes to be “The Loss of Creature”. The descriptions of the couple on vacation in Mexico and the difference between the Falkland Islander and the student at Scarsdale High School are two of his more interesting examples. He divides his essay into two parts that of the tourists and students, explaining how humans are consumers that need to come to a more logical conclusion of experience, illustrating that their ways of interpretation need to be changed. An American couple travel to Mexico in hopes of finding “it” in order to return home. Percy gives this example as a way to refer to the development of the “symbolic complex” in society. The couple are tourists with preconceived notions on what to expect and what to experience during their travels. Whereas, if their expectations aren’t fulfilled, they are let down and most likely won’t return to Mexico. “Their hope …show more content…

The two most stimulating examples were those of the couple in Mexico, and the dogfish and sonnet that helped illustrate Percy’s theories of the “symbolic package” and the “educational package”. He explains that humans need to overcome loss and struggle of the passive consumer to transform into a society of great individuality. If society can overcome this loss and struggle, the idea of “The Loss of Creature” will be no

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