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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.
Everyone’s experience is not all the same similarly to the Grand Canyon situation that is mentioned by Percy. The individual needs to be taken into consideration. Like with me, I went to many tourists spots, such as the Valley of Ten Peaks, that are talked among many people that and have been influenced by the media, but when I got their I was left speechless by the sight of the of the Peaks. This experience is a counter point Percy’s idea, that prejudges of situations can skew the perspective of people. Percy states “[a tourist] Does not one see the same sight from the Bright Angel Lodge that Cardenas saw” (Percy 464). This quote explains how people cannot see the true beauty of a sight with these expectations that block it for us. Most of the time I have had my expectations of a sight given to me by media or other people lessen my experiences in life. This occurs because how much someone is willing to let so...
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...public place are committing recreational experience giving back that sovereign feel to a person and satisfying the recreational need to obtain this feeling( Percy 470). This person is the one that does not allow their perspective to be altered by someone else’s vision. The second loss is the one that you must gain back when you study and learn Percy states that you should find the glory in the discovery rather than just a lesson (Percy 471). This is the student that gets the pleasure out of learning for the sake of learning.
To conclude our perspective can be changed or altered by other peoples’ perspectives. This change in perspective can lessen experiences that people go through. Peoples education can also be changed by classroom limitations that change our view of a subject have student relate our education to the class rather than to what is actually learned.
"Everyone is influenced by their childhood. The things I write about and illustrate come from a vast range of inputs, from the earliest impressions of a little child, others from things I saw yesterday and still others from completely out of the blue, though no doubt they owe their arrival to some stimulus, albeit unconscious. I have a great love of wildlife, inherited from my parents, which show through in my subject matter, though always with a view to the humorous—not as a reflective device but as a reflection of my own fairly happy nature.
“Animals” is plural, differing from the singular “me.” This shows that not only is Percy comparing himself to a specific animal, but to all animals. Without a defining factor in animals, he could be making the collation of animals as animalistic behavior. What exactly separates “me” from the “animals?” Civilization? Humanity? Self-control? Rules? Percy places himself on the same level as the animals, disregarding the rules and regulations of humanity, many times throughout the essay, but especially when he is chasing someone who has intruded on his territory and aims to kill them with a pair of scissors. The narrator stops to think, “he must have thought that something wild pursued him. And maybe he was right” (cite). Percy leaves animals vague in his title so the reader can connect it with many possibilities, maybe even instilling fear of the unknown. “Animals” gives the reader the idea that he means animalistic behavior or raw instinct instead of an actual
In Death of an Innocent, Chris McCandless goes on a memorable and tragic journey into Alaska, but for most of his expedition he was known, not as Chris McCandless, but as Alexander Supertramp. The reason that he changed his name for his journey was because he is running away from his past and wanted to become the person he believed he really was.
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.
Despite both writers believing that there is a flaw in modern-day education, they come to that conclusion in separate ways. Freire predominately believes that the education system is what is restraining students, while Percy believes that the students are to be blamed for refusing to leave “the beaten track.” Regardless of the individual problem that both writers perceive as being incorrect, Freire and Percy end at the same conclusion that students are losing their individuality. Students and teachers must unite to strive for the change they deserve and to get past the preset system that is withholding them from greatness. Freire points out that true “Knowledge emerges only through invention and reinvention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other” (72). With these newly discovered ideas for reform, students will not be constrained by their oppressors from expressing who they truly are:
Individuals, specifically students, of todays modern world, often get caught up in the world of connections and seem to care less about receiving a quality education. This alters the way teachers teach and the way students learn. Students have become “consumers” as if education is an exchange for credits. In Walker Percy’s essay, "The Loss of the Creature”, he discusses how through preconceptions and the surrender of our sovereignty, humans lose the ability to experience life, education, and all their elements. Percy begins his essay with an example of the visitor who always wanted to visit Grand Canyon and his experience by the ideas and thoughts of what it should be when he was there. The second part of his essay he discusses the differences
The book, Into the wild, takes us into the world of a young man named Christopher Johnson McCandless. He travelled across the western United States from 1990 to 1992, and on April 28, 1992, he started his last adventure and walked into the wilds of Alaska. About 112 days later, he died of starvation. Unsurprisingly, public opinion polarized on his behavior. Some may admire his courage and noble ideals, though some regard him as an idiotic and arrogant narcissist. Although he died on his way to find the truth and back to nature, I believe that Chris McCandless should be considered as a hero, but I cannot completely approve of all his behaviors.
Percy presents a type of tourist, which is the “simple tourist';. The “simple tourist'; helps Percy to describe someone who succumbs to the “loss of sovereignty';. In Percy’s view, someone who is a “simple tourist'; goes along with what the expert’s comment on. They stay on the “beaten track';. When he describes the “beaten track'; he means the road that everyone follows put forth by experts. People follow the “beaten track'; knowing what lies ahead of them, and thinking that it is the best way to go. Experts take away the “sovereignty'; of humankind because they take away any surprise or challenge of a learning experience. Du Bois views the “beaten track'; though, as the best way to learn. The educational system that he strongly recommends is a path that he said a person must take in order to succeed in life. That path describes Percy’s view of the “beaten track'; because it is a journey that Du Bois suggests that all young people should take. This definitely leaves out any room for them to wander off into their own interests if they should conform.
“Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand is a capturing, inspiring, and unforgettable tale. Hillenbrand excels in narrative storytelling, expressing feelings and experiences that are difficult to capture in this style of writing. In this book, Hillenbrand provides a balance between facts and the story itself; she portrays the story by stopping at intervals and going more into depth about different facts that will help the reader to understand. The combination of the two create a story that’s both informative and emotionally capturing. Hillenbrand seizes the readers emotions through the use of morals and themes.
The characters in my book are very interesting, there are 3 main characters. Percy, Grover, and Annabeth. Percy is the son of Poseidon who is a Greek God. A powerful God who rules over all the oceans and everything in them. Then there is Percy's best friend Grover, is a Satyr, that is someone who is half horse & half man. Annabeth is the daughter of Athena who is a Greek Goddess.There are other important characters as well in the story like Percy's mom, or the other Gods. Percys personality in the beginning of the book is best described as shyness or acts like he doesn't care, but over the book he expands out of that stage and becomes more outgoing and courageous. Grover is fearless, he has to be because he is Percys protector. But when they go to the underworld he is kinda freaked out by Hades. Annabeth is not afraid of anything because she is the daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom and war. Annabeth has trained for many years and w
In the book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, the author talks about, not only vegetarianism, but reveals to us what actually occurs in the factory farming system. The issue circulating in this book is whether to eat meat or not to eat meat. Foer, however, never tries to convert his reader to become vegetarians but rather to inform them with information so they can respond with better judgment. Eating meat has been a thing that majority of us engage in without question. Which is why among other reasons Foer feels compelled to share his findings about where our meat come from. Throughout the book, he gives vivid accounts of the dreadful conditions factory farmed animals endure on a daily basis. For this reason Foer urges us to take a stand against factory farming, and if we must eat meat then we must adapt humane agricultural methods for meat production.
theories can be defined as a way that a student grows, progresses, or increases his or her
As for Percy’s writing style, he adopts the narrative structure while reaching a descriptive angle to provide the story a vivid focus. He provides an informal type of writing directed for readers of the Outside magazine, with the intention of encouraging them to visit Griffith
In the case of the Grand Canyon, once it became a national park, all people experience is under “approved circumstances”, leading the viewer to the dispense of the media. Once a viewer “sovereignty” is lost, he renders his “satisfaction by the degree to which the Canyon conforms to the preformed complex.” Similarly, modern man is so entranced by the bodiless media that society is at a loss. Once Percy starts to dwell with society, one realizes this is not simply an idea about how to see things, but a critique of the lack of true experiences. Despite his concern, he proposes a solution. He gives the account of a biology student with a dogfish, but being too preoccupied by his coursework, he does not really see it; and much in the same way, an English student looses the connection with a Shakespeare sonnet. The problem lies in that both the English student and biology student don't know they are at a loss, and the only way to fully regain back their sovereignty is that unexpectedly “poetry students should find dogfishes on their desks and biology students should find Shakespeare sonnets on their dissection boards”. Percy implies that the only way to experience the “it” factor of an object is through having an unabridged, intimate relation with that one tries
...fascination with the animal world. Children, they are permitted to love things they do not understand. But coming to these books as an adult, and loaded down with knowledge of their author’s life, with its longings and fears, one cannot avoid reading them as fables about E.B White’s own life” (Epstein 380). Reading about the tales and adventures of animals is different to a child compared to an adult. Children are fascinated with animals, but do not understand the hidden meanings, whereas the adults do. After knowing about White’s life it is easy to understand that these three books are pieces of his life that he is telling from a different point of view, the view of animals. White’s writing is an expression of himself (Sampson 530). “Hardly any literate American has not benefitted from his humor, his nonsense, his creativity, and his engaging wisdom” (Hasley 526).