Life is not always easy. When we really consider all that goes wrong in a day without relenting, life truly does suck, not to mention the intense difficulty. We face this challenge endlessly, and it seems that there is always a new trial to replace the one we just overcame. Struggle seems to take two forms, the kind of struggle that is right in-front of us and the kind that slowly appears and envelops into our daily life. It is the issue of not adding difficulty within our life to have a normal simple life. Why would someone do that though? I believe that this comes from a need to blend into what is considered a normal society that has issues and tribulation. There is a need to fill this void of not lacking a challenge by a challenge being …show more content…
there instead. This is not done by choice, however; I believe it is done on an unconscious level without recognition of what is happening. Yet, there is a way through strength, bravery, and a level of cleverness to overcome these challenges and prevail with a new sense of oneself and sovereignty.
In, “The Loss of the Creature,” essayist Walker Percy examines the idea of regaining sovereignty and the different ways that recovery can happen. Percy uses many stories to showcase the idea of sovereignty for an individual, while at the same time drawing light to how sovereignty can be lost. Relying on experts to validate what was happening, not recognizing the struggle, and having a preconceived expectation of what is to happen are all ways that Percy highlights the loss of sovereignty. While Percy’s essay provides these theoretical ideas, “From Outside, In” penned by African American academic writer Barbara Mellix, she supplies examples of difficulty in life from personal experiences while struggling to adapt to the world of a collegiate education level that helps to illustrate and test that framework. Both Mellix and Percy both discuss difficulty in everyday life and how it can be real or imagined to fill a void. The tribulations that we experience in this world do not spare anyone. However, the question that presents itself is whether this difficulty stems from our circumstance or if we are responsible for creating it …show more content…
ourselves. Therefore, additional difficulty can be added without cause or need by ourselves with the intent to keep life feeling normal at all times. Yet while furthering our education we add this degree of challenge to appease our minds about how we are experiencing life. The only way to combat this challenge is through bravery both in small and large amounts. Working hard, in a perfect world, would result in a reward or a sense of accomplishment form what we have done and the effort put in. As an example from Percy, there is a college student who is working on a dogfish in his classroom and is going about working on this dogfish he does not find any difficulty in it. Percy states, “The great difficulty is that he is not aware that there is a difficulty” (410). The student does not realize there is difficulty because there should not be any with the tools provided in this classroom. The difficulty is in the fact that recognizing the difficulty is, in itself, the difficulty. The student cannot tell this from how he is viewing the situation, so there should be a clear path and reward to follow. From the tale of Mellix and her struggle to improve her academic writing and language, there are clearly times of struggle and difficulty that were not caused simply by a lack of difficulty. She has to physically struggle and work to get through the strenuous times of self-improvement. Mellix works diligently to improve her work, rewrites it, and changes it over and over again to form piece of writing she can. Mellix even says “would not give back the good burden that accompanies my growing experience (392). Mellix was working hard to increase her knowledge and better herself. College is not easy, higher education is meant to challenge which is exactly what happened to Mellix. Papers and other assignments added a literally difficulty to what Mellix was working on. Both Percy and Mellix experience “difficulty”, yet according to one there is difficulty within just finding the difficulty; while for the other the difficulty is there in front of them and there is no trouble finding it. The differences reside in the varying degree and type of difficulty that is shown. The core of the issue is deciding on the “realness” that comes when obstacles come up, and how we view this difficultly in our life. Likewise, while attempting to find this struggle we find ourselves going along with others, due to how other people have difficulty as well and how they can influence our choices.
We place a tangible difficulty on what is happening, whether or not that difficulty is in fact real. Many times we place belief in something that is not real, as Percy mentions, “The dogfish, the tree, the seashell, the American Negro, the dream are rendered invisible by a shift of reality from concrete thing to theory which Whitehead has called a fallacy of misplaced correctness” (411). There is misplaced thoughts in the need for difficulty in the journey of moving forward, for we have shifted away from what is really happening into a zone of what should be happening. Influences from outside sources have rendered us blind to what is in front of us, we now see what we think we should be gazing upon. We change our perception to meet this new viewing point. This idea of going along with others is referenced by Mellix who states, “and slowly, imperceptibly, I had ceased seeing a sharp distinction between myself and “others” (388). Mellix worked very hard on the difficult task of attempting to lay to rest her old way of thought and adopt this new ideology and persona. There is no doubt that in this case their difficulty, yet as she worked I believe the Mellix slowly fused with the difficulty of others. She would struggle along with them, eventually losing her struggle and then unconsciously replacing
it with that of those around her. Mellix slowly begins to have some struggle of her life start to make the problems of those around her visible by familiarizing herself with the problems of her past. This is not to say she did the work for those around her, this idea is tied to the thought that we are adding a degree of challenge by the inclusion of this difficulty in our lives, whether we intend to or fill that void without even realizing we have done so. The assumption of the need for there to be difficulty results in the absentmindedly taking on new difficulties to continue with what we feel should be there. Yet, even though there is difficulty can we not salvage some sovereignty form these taxing times? To boldly face and strike forward into the belly of the beast has to amount some reward otherwise no one would dare to do so. Percy gives light to this argument by stating, “A student may simply be strong enough, brave enough, clever enough to take the dogfish and sonnet by storm, to wrest control of it” (412). While many are not dealing with a literally dogfish or deciphering a sonnet I believe that Percy was yearning for us to think more along the lines of facing whatever challenges come our way. Facing these challenges will bring about control in the times of struggle and hardship, learning how to overcome so you can be clever for the next set of challenges. Being brave does not always mean grand and bold measures, bravery and making a change can be small yet still powerful for some people. Strength comes in many sizes along with bravery, and having the strength to press forward or make a change is an incredible task. Butcher works with idea when it is stated that, “… it seems far from terrible to see a father and son racing down suburban sidewalks […] but interacting simultaneously with both our media and the world “ (Butcher). While there is no clear moment or action that seems incredibly brave, that is no reason to say that there is a none at all. Instead of doing the easier action of staying indoors the father and son chose to go out and see the world and in their own way that was brave. The duo went out, they explored the world and spent time with each other. They were able to re-discover the world around them by re-imagining what was around them. They were familiar to what was around them, now they saw this familiarly in new way by looking through something else to discover the sense of sovereignty that goes along with the re-discovery of something old. Unfortunately, this seems to be a missing part of our world today so I believe that this act is one of bravery, not in the normal sense but in a new one that is fitting to the world we live in today. Challenges and strife will always be a part of living. Whether we recognize this as an immediate problem or as one we simply will devise on our own to help fill an empty space changes the issues at the core and how we will respond to them in our own life. Regardless there will be struggles in our life and while pursuing a recovery of sovereignty we will not be able to avoid this. As we continue along we will at times lose our sovereignty as we put our belief in those things that are not real. I believe we cannot avoid this entirely unfortunately, for at times it seems that this replacing of difficulty is done without thought and we have no idea that it is even happening. That is not to say that nothing can be done, we can choose to be brave and have strength in the face of these situations and face them head on; and by facing these situations we will in turn gain back some sovereignty. Challenges face us at all points of our life, and how we view them, whether to accept them or fight them, will result in how much sovereignty we will have in our own life. Life is a game of control, and in this case that control is over our own life and the sovereignty within ourselves.
They argue that the accruing of property by figures such as Johnson meant that they literally did not think of themselves as living within a racist society, and that, despite the decline of this freedom, it is a mistake to consider their opinions as an “aberration” in a narrative of inevitable racial exploitation (Breen & Innes, 112). Rather, they claim that to understand such people as such an aberration inevitably leads to a situation in which the real equality of their freedom is
Congratulations on being admitted to State College! I am glad that you have made your decision to come here. State College has numerous great opportunities to offer its students. You also told me that you are enrolled in English Composition 101. One of the pieces of literature you will encounter in this class will be "The Loss of the Creature", by Walker Percy. For your preparation to the class I can summarize and give you my explanation of "The Loss of the Creature". Throughout the essay Percy tries to get across how any person with expectations or "packages" will not be able to fully accept and learn from any experience.
Adversities are often given a negative connotation and view, as most consider them to be hurdles which impede progress. Nevertheless when taken in and accepted under a positive light, adversities can serve as stepping stones through which an individual can better their character. In the face of looming obstacles individuals who persevere come out of the situation as stronger, determined, and more hopeful for the future.
It may seem like some people have an easy life but that's not the truth. Life, as you know, has many challenges and obstacles. Some are small like missing the bus and some are more serious like the death of a loved one. The books Fahrenheit 451, Of Mice and Men, and Romeo and Juliet are great novels that show that everybody has struggles within their life.
Mark Twain once stated, “You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus” (Brainy Quote). Despite the imaginative challenges children are faced with in reality, they are able to cope with the advantage of time and mental resilience. Stephen King in his essay, "My Creature from the Black Lagoon" from the Wake Tech English 111 Reader, compared the idea of imaginative strength in children and in that of adults to see who would better fit the horror genre audience. Stephen King recalls one particular time from his past that sends shivers down even the hardest of spines.
In today’s culture people are not individuals they are consumers and they have lost their ability to have their own experiences. In “The Loss of the Creature” by Walker Percy, he talks about why people have lost their sovereignty and how they can get it back. There are a lot of things that people can do differently and regain their individuality back from the consumer culture that they live in.
In this story it clearly shows us what the courts really mean by freedom, equality, liberty, property and equal protection of the laws. The story traces the legal challenges that affected African Americans freedom. To justify slavery as the “the way things were” still begs to define what lied beneath slave owner’s abilities to look past the wounded eyes and beating hearts of the African Americans that were so brutally possessed.
Liberty, Equality, and Power describes the trends in society in the past 3 centuries. Generally speaking, as time progresses more people receive more freedoms and rights; however, that is not the case for some groups in certain places, an example of this is African Americans. In the south, for example, just recently African Americans were not victims of segregation. This mistreatment of African Americans is elaborated upon in Anne Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi. Moody gives insight into what it was like for her to grow up in the south in the 1950’s.
In Walker Percy’s “The Loss of the Creature” he attempts to portray the idea that perspective can be skewed by another’s story, personal experience, and other factors that lead people to have these expectations of a sight or study that lessen the experience. He demonstrates this when he makes mention of the tourists at the Grand Canyon, and the Biology student getting compared to the Falkland Islander. The facts he presents are true, but Percy does not go into detail about individual cases leading to a generalized essay that does not show that each individual account is different, and not all expectations are changed from other information given to people will taint the learning environment or the experience, and because of this the points that are not mentioned as well as Percy’s thoughts will be explained and expanded on.
The obstacles which we must face are not there to hinder our daily life. They are there to provide countless opportunities to obtain greater success. In order to be successful we must look at every obstacle as a new opportunity.
During the essay the author lost her innocence but graduated to a deeper appreciation and clarity of who she is and who she could become. In her school with no visible fences keeping the children within the schoolyard, there were the invisible fences of racism that tried to limit them from reaching their full potential. The author concludes, "I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death" (841).
As I sit here in front of my laptop with just days left of my first semester of my 6 year journey to begin a career as an Audiologist; a career I have become very passionate about, I wanted to take the time and use Walker Percy’s essay, “The Loss of the Creature”, to analyze my experience thus far. Audiology is a field of study that is very specific to communication disorders and plain and simple, the ears. Not a single class I took this semester related to Audiology but they were requirements, mere stepping stones, necessary to reach my end goal. I vow to come back to this essay after I graduate with my Master’s degree to see if I feel the same way but I have a strong feeling that my views on college credits won’t change. I want to use this final essay to examine each class I took this semester and view it from a perspective that Percy would use towards the college experience. The irony in this essay will be that regardless of my findings, there isn’t a damn thing I can do to change these college requirements. I’m stuck on this “highway to
The last stepping stone of democracy was discovered, and African Americans realized their worth. The archaic notions of “what was right” and “what was expected” were blurred, bent, and shattered. Young minds became sculpted to see the world in a different light, a world where discrimination, racism, and inequality of any form were no longer acceptable or normal. This new world had opportunity, victory, pride, and strength. Although it would take until the 1960s to achieve this far off dream of the Harlem Renaissance intellectuals, the cornerstone was set here, upon the work of talented individuals that did not subscribe to some chimerical idea of what the world should see, but realized a bold truth that would be accepted by even the most stubborn of minds in the generations to come.
Meanwhile, as the pressure of schools losing their students due to dropout, it is important that the inner city students have the support they need in school or at home, because many years of oppression have kept African-Americans from having the will to do better. Now young African-Americans have that same oppressed feeling in the schools that they are attending. When the students give up it seems as though everyone around them wants to give up. In fact, “In many parts of the country, the problems present withi...
Hard work is challenging work. But why does it have to be challenging work? Because challenging work, when intelligently chosen, pays off. It’s the work that people of lesser character will avoid. And if you infer that I’m saying people who avoid challenging work have a character flaw, you’re right… and a serious one at that. If you avoid challenging work, you avoid doing what it takes to succeed. To keep your muscles strong or your mind sharp, you need to challenge them. To do only what’s easy will lead to physical and mental flabbiness and very mediocre results, followed by a great deal of time and effort spent justifying why such flabbiness is OK, instead of stepping up and taking on some real challenges.