In society, there is this assumption that people ranging from any age falls squarely into only two categories: follower and leader, and that they will stay there without any question. In “The Loss of the Creature” by Walker Percy define this struggle between the follower and the leader or in Percy’s words “the consumer and the sovereign” and how one person can reverse their own follower’s mindset to be a sovereign. He uses examples of the Grand Canyon, Mexico, sonnets, and the dogfish to demonstrate the consumers’ loss of sovereignty, loss of critical thought, and loss of individuality; a loss of someone actions comes with the self-interest attitude of others. In order to reverse these learned attitudes, Percy’s propose that a consumer can …show more content…
experience more tangible experiences, understand other people’s views, and be different from others as not to be another cog in the machine. The strict categorization between a consumer and sovereign does not have to be the norm of society; it’s through the self-determination of tangible experiences, self-reflection, and the need to be different can one person be a “sovereign”. At the beginning of the selection, he creates a definition of what a consumer is and what a sovereign is.
The first example he uses is of the Grand Canyon and of all the tourist related activities over there and expectations that come with it. The author uses the Grand Canyon to point out the stark differences between a consumer and a sovereign as quoted with him saying “Seeing the canyon is made even more difficult by what the sightseer does when the moment arrives, when sovereign knower confronts the things to known. Instead of looking at it, he photographs it. There is no confrontation.” (473) A consumer naturally falls prey to the one dimensional constraints of the current environment of consumerism. In addition, consumer primarily thinks about the present day rather of the future or reflecting of the past. In contrast, a sovereign being experienced and more knowledgeable of the environment will result in them looking at the big picture. The current environment paints a stark divide between consumers and sovereign, but it’s with a motivated individual can one person experience the benefits of being a …show more content…
sovereign. Living in the present day, there are some costs of being a consumer which can indirectly affect a person identity. The author mentions some limitations with having a consumer way of thinking. One limitation that the author mention was the idea of a lack of knowledge of the situation on hand which can be seen with a clueless tourist at the Grand Canyon experiencing the wonders of it, but is “...bored; or he may be conscious of the difficulty: that the great thing yawning at his feet somehow eludes him. The harder he looks at it, the less he can see.” (473) The consumer lack of preparedness of the situation on hand caused them to miss possibly other opportunities. If the consumer was aware of the magnitude of the situation, then they could have seen beyond the periphery of current norms. Another limitation that was argued was the self-interest attitude of the sovereign towards a customer as stated with “...the object of the dialectic is nothing other then the subversion of the efforts of the planners.” (474) It is human nature that people of any economic or ethnic background will have some type of selfish attitudes which can result in the trickery of others for the benefits of themselves (sovereign). The constant storage of benefits from the consumer can in a direct result only further divide consumers and sovereigns with lack of available information, the already constant deception, and similar methods. A similar limitation was the loss of personality which is in direct result from a consumer trying to live life to the fullest, but blinded on what is in front of them; a person living up to expectation because of outside influences. This type of overcompensation is mirrored in the “... truth [of] rather desperate impersonation. I use the word desperate adversely to signify an actual loss of hope.” (476) Society is filled with this type of example with people over displaying themselves at job interviews, interacting with others (romantically or civilly), and other similar measures of self gratification. Similarly, to the previous limitation, a person can put too much faith into one person to the point that they are blinded to the point of zero accountability when dealing with an expert. An example of this can be found with “A poor man may envy the rich man, but the sightseer does not envy the expert.When a caste system becomes absolute, envy disappears.” (478) There is always a need to reflect one person need and to think critically. A person who blindly follows an expert doesn’t learn or gain anything. The only thing a consumer can get with an expert is a short burst of credibility with an expert either reinforcing or diminishing someone else actions. A reliance of experts over and over again doesn’t build the individuals credibility, but rather the experts. In order to reverse this action and build credibility for the customers themselves can be seen by being the expert themselves. Limitations are a consumer worse nightmare when dealing others; it is with an engaged person can a person develop to be a sovereign. In contrast to limitations, there are ways to resolve a consumer so they become a sovereign. One example of a step towards independent thought is though “ a dialectical movement which brings one back to the beaten track but at a level above it… the thing is recovered from familiarityby means of an exercise in familiarity.” (473-474) A person doing something different from the standard norm of society can develop as a person rather than a subject of an individual. It is through the knowledge of the subject in question can a person can fully understand and can take action that is appropriate at the time. A consumer will not be able to understand the situation and will become slaves to the sovereign given their lack of independent and critical thought. Another solution to break this complex relationship between a sovereign and a consumer can “be recovered as a consequence of a breakdown of the symbolic machinery by which the experts present the experience to the consumer.” (474) It is the careful knowledge of knowing what is happening and taking responsible action can a consumer transform to a sovereign. All of these ideas are synthesis at the end of the Grand Canyon story with Percy saying “The canyon must be approached by the stratagems we have mentioned: the inside track, the familiar revisited, the accidental encounter.” (474-475) These ideas are not concrete in nature when dealing with a consumer and a sovereign, but it can be a stepping stone for future involvement and engagement for a consumer to be a sovereign. The ideas of self motivation, the reflection of one’s mind, and the need to be different are good to alter the mindset of a consumer to a sovereign. In everyday life, I find myself having the same struggles, as mirrored in Percy’s work, between being a sovereign and a consumer.
One personal example that I could think of is of my hometown: San Francisco. San Francisco has always been home to me in ways that are not directly aligned with the current trends of it. When I think of San Francisco, I think of it as the city by the bay whose skyline is cover in a mist of fog and where the inhabitants of this great city are a great mystery given that the people over there are of mixed origins. However, the current symbols and stereotypes of San Francisco are the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and hippies. San Francisco is a healthy diverse place that goes well beyond the current boundaries that people think of. The ideas of consumers and sovereign can be further emphasized with my viewpoint of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge and a tourist view of it. For me, I really don’t see anything special about it because it has been a recurring landmark throughout my young adult life and is a mode of transportation across the bay. Every time I cross it, I don’t take pictures every five seconds, instead, I might mention it to someone, not about the beauty of it, but of the traffic that it creates: pedestrian and car. In contrast, a tourist would drop everything they have just to have that right picture or moment because of a lack of awareness. There are added benefits of having a tourist spot in the city of added capital, but it creates an
undue burden of the inhabitant who lives there with the “spoliation of the thing” (483-484). Similar to Percy way of thinking, in order to get out of this constant feedback loop of solely going to the Golden Gate Bridge and nowhere else, is to experience other places as stated by him by finding “an ‘unspoiled’ place.” (476) Some examples of an “unspoiled” place in San Francisco that tourist might find worthwhile are the beaches of San Francisco, Golden Gate Park, and Twin Peaks. When a person is a consumer, they don’t think about what is happening around them, they instead trust experts to judge what sites are important to them. It is this over reliance of these experts and lack of passion does one become a consumer, yet this all can change if a consumer with more passion, doing more research, and to be unique. Some other stories that he mentions are excerpts about the sonnet and an English class wherein each situation there is some type of limitations. When comparing the two types of student (English and science), the author makes a point of a dogfish in an English class and vice versa with a sonnet on a lab wherein each instance there is a lack of knowledge given the context of the situation: “A student who has the desire to get at a dogfish or a Shakespeare sonnet may have the greatest difficulty in salvaging the creature itself from the educational package in which it is presented.” (479) The absence of context for both situations affects the person where if not given instruction, the person becomes almost paralyzed of not knowing what to do. The reversal of this type of attitude can be seen later on with him saying that the “ hardiest and clevest of students who can salvage the sonnet from this many-tissued package.” (480) A person can only reverse this type of dehabilitation attitude, by working hard and striving for knowledge. Again, this is mirrored in further selection with “two traits of the second situation (1) an openness of the thing before one…(2) a sovereignty of the knower.” and “the two sorts of circumstances through which the thing may be restored to the person… First, by ordeal… Second, by apprenticeship to a great man.” (482) It is through the self-determination of individuals can one be able to decipher multiple situations, more information, and to be different. All in all, Percy defines the difference between the consumer vs the sovereign and to reverse this strict categorization between them by personal accounts, the acknowledgment of oneself, and to never fall prey to other people motives. The author explains his idea by means of examples of the Grand Canyon and Mexico with the sightseer and the sonnets and dogfish with the students. The use of these examples shows a stark difference between the follower and the leader where one follows the ruler and the other enforce it. It is through the actions of individual passion of knowing of other experience, the ability to realize what is happening to oneself, and to be different. If they don't follow these ideas then the sovereign will benefit in ways that might affect future consumers actions where it can lead to more capital for the consumer, a lack of knowledge, and the loss of curiosity. Towards the end of the passage the author makes a statement that directly reflect the struggle of a sovereign vs a consumer where it is the responsibility of the consumer to look outside of the box: “But unless he also struggles for himself, unless he knows that there is struggle, he is going to be just what the planners think he is.” (484)
When one thinks of classic Americana, they reminisce about the 1970s and 1980s and the notion of the nostalgic past in terms of what is the classic American image. It was a time of economic prowess where the blue collar factory worker would work 9 to 5 and then go to the local bar with his coworkers. However, times have since changed. The industrial plants that once dominated the Great Lakes economic region has become a shell of its past to the point where it is now none as the Rust Belt as industry left and white collar jobs became the norm. Since this degradation has settled into this once industrial cities, many cities and companies have sought to rebrand themselves in order to build from their reputations in the past to appeal to the nostalgia felt today. One such case where these is a correlation between a company and city are that of Harley Davidson, founded 1904, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Both have sought to rebrand themselves to the public and consumer, with Milwaukee seeking to transformation its image into that of a young and vibrant and city while Harley targets a new clientele. It is this shift to Harley’s "cult branding" to attract new clients that parallels Milwaukee's attempts to integrate itself to a service sector economy based on touristic leisure and the consumption of
I recently read a book called Monster by Walter Dean Myers, in which a sixteen year-old boy named Steve Harmon was arrested for being accused of shooting a drugstore owner, and watched a documentary titled Murder on a Sunday Morning about a fifteen year-old Brenton Butler being charged with murdering a woman at a motel. I found that the book and the documentary had many similarities and differences. I thought this because both cases are about a young African-American boy who is in custody for something that they did not do. Both police investigations didn't go thoroughly and just rushed through to arrest the boys immediately and are centered around a white defense attorney who tries to convince the jury that the male teen did not committed the crime by giving out evidence.
With a wish to forsake industrial living Edward Abby of Desert Solitaire, and Chris McCandless of Into the Wild, immerse themselves in wilderness. While rejecting notions of industrial life, their defection is not absolute. Despite McCandless’ stated wish to live off the land (Krakauer163), he delights in finding an industrial bus in the Alaskan wilderness for his base camp (Krakauer163). Likewise Abbey, from his comfortable trailer in the Utah desert, states he is there to “confront…the bare bones of existence” (6). Utilization of industry in their escape from it seems like a contradiction at first glance, but this conflict indicates that they are not rejecting industry, only separating themselves by the degrees necessary to accommodate what they want to experience. Abbey’s Industrial dependency accommodates his need to have a philosophical dialogue with nature without separating himself from it, while McCandless’ primitive approach accommodates his need for self-reliance. This separation by degrees allows rejection and usage to co-exist within their individual paradigms. The removal of absolutes allows both men to explore outside of defined parameters. Subscribing to neither total rejection of a notion, nor adherence to rigidly defined ideas, both men can incorporate evolving discoveries relative to their need without contradiction.
He gives an example of a college student that found a red spider. This student, ironically, passes the Endangered Species Act and becomes powerful. This student rose from the bottom because of his “conservationists” beliefs. The example allows the writer to move into a mocking conclusion. He states that these power hungry men and women do not actually know best for the environment as much as property owners do. Just because they state that they are “ all for the environment”, it doesn’t mean that they know
morals are acquired, and conformity to a standard of right is attained. In the novel The
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.
The wild is a place to push yourself to the limit and take a look at who you truly are inside. “Wilderness areas have value as symbols of unselfishness” (Nash). Roderick Nash’s philosophy states that the wilderness gives people an opportunity to learn humility but they fight this because they do not have a true desire to be humble. Human-kind wants to give out the illusion that they are nature lovers when in reality, they are far from it. “When we go to designated wilderness we are, as the 1964 act says, "visitors" in someone else's home” (Nash). People do not like what they cannot control and nature is uncontrollable. Ecocentrism, the belief that nature is the most important element of life, is not widely accepted. The novel Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer depicts a young boy who goes on an exploration to teach himself the true concept of humility. Chris McCandless, the protagonist, does not place confidence in the universal ideology that human beings are the most significant species on the planet, anthropocentrism.
He is unable to understand why they can’t leave nature alone. His frustration stems from the fact that so much valuable land is being destroyed, to accommodate the ways of the lazy. It seems as though he believes that people who are unwilling to enjoy nature as is don’t deserve to experience it at all. He’s indirectly conveying the idea that humans who destroy nature are destroying themselves, as nature is only a mechanism that aids the society. In Desert Solitaire Abbey reminds the audience, of any age and year of the significance of the wild, enlightening and cautioning the human population into consciousness and liability through the use of isolation as material to ponder upon and presenting judgments to aid sheltering of the nature he
Creature or Monster? How does Shelley's presentation of the Creature and Frankenstein create sympathy or horror at different stages of the novel? Who is the real monster? The novel "Frankenstein" was written by Mary Shelley as a teenager during the 19th century.
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.
During this essay written by Walker Percy, it is clear that his overall opinion of experiencing new things is in the eye of the beholder and/or the hands of those around them and their social status. Percy uses many examples in his writing including that of an explorer, tourist, and local all seeing things for the first time either literally or in a new different light. In this essay, I will play on both sides of regaining experiences, seeing things on a different level then before or the first time. Regaining experiences is a valid argument brought up by Percy as it is achievable. While criticizing each side of the argument, I will also answer questions as to the validity of Percy's argument, sovereignty, what is important in Percy's literature, and my own experiences that contradict my opinion now as well as others that support it. Regaining and experiencing new things includes taking what you expect and putting that aside while you soak up the true environment you are in. To accomplish a sovereign state of mind, you must let those around you influence you only in a way that helps you grasp/control the situation even farther.
I think that Leopold is trying to say that in conservation someone will always loose out. For example man pollutes a river with trout in it, the trout die and there is a decline in trout population so the conservation commission feels to help trout populations get back to normal they will kill herons. This is better for the fisherman but not for the ornithologist. So it would appear, in short, that the rudimentary grades of outdoor recreation consume their resource-base: the higher grades, at least to a degree, create their own satisfactions with little or no attrition of land or life. It is the expansion of transport without a corresponding growth of perception that threatens us with qualitative bankruptcy of the recreational process.
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.
When McCandless first embarked on his journey, he believed that he needed to get rid of all his material possessions to get the most out of life. For example, in one of his first journal entries, McCandless wrote that he was better off experiencing the wild without camera because memories and experiences gave life meaning. From a Platonic perspective, cameras can only capture a fraction of reality and pictures are simply representations of a real event. By refusing to bring a camera, McCandless made a powerful and Platonic statement about materialism. Although materialism can often obscure the human perception ...
John Stuart Mill believes in a utilitarian society where people are seen as “things.” Moreover, in utilitarianism the focus of the goal is “forward-looking”, in looking at the consequences but not the ini...