The Loss Of The Creature By Percy Walker - 1246 Words

Not going to lie, but I put an immense amount of trust into other’s experiences and allow them to dictate my own. I have travelled to different places for the sole purpose of â€Å"reliving† another person’s experience only to be disappointed when I get there. The ideas expressed in Walker Percy’s, â€Å"The Loss of the Creature† parallel my adventures towards misfortune. As Percy Walker writes in his essay, â€Å"The thing as it is, has been appropriated by the symbolic complex which has already been formed in the sightseer’s mind† (Percy 472). Percy argues that having preconceived notions about places or ideas, creates a â€Å"symbolic complex† in our minds. I have always been told that Disney World Florida is â€Å"The most magical place in the world.† I†¦show more content†¦Once they have been separated, it can be referred to as being an instance, which is â€Å"it.† He defines this term as an experien ce resulting in personal growth, as something being â€Å"authentic.† He refers the first â€Å"discovery† of the Grand Canyon by Garcia Lopez de Cardenas as authentic, so it seems the best way to discover â€Å"it† would be means through exploration. Last Sunday, I went to the Museum of Fine Arts and walked through the marble corridors in pursuit of Percy’s â€Å"it.† I was accompanied by a friend who was in pursuit of taking candid photos. I came in with a set of expectations as Percy writes, â€Å"the sightseer measures his satisfaction by the degree to which the [museum] conforms to the preformed complex† (473). When I entered the museum, the quietude of the atmosphere caused me to become drowsy and I quickly looked for the cafà © to drink coffee. Feeling energized, I wandered aimlessly for close to an hour, amazed by the museum’s architecture and rustic paintings displayed. However, being surrounded by great artistic pieces of history, I did not gain the sense of being enriched or enlightened. Due to the nature of the assignment, I was not nearly as interested and felt that I could have been lost in the moment if I had entered on my own free will. That was until I stumbled upon the â€Å"Showdown ! Kuniyoshi vs. Kunisada† artShow MoreRelatedThe Loss Of The Creature By Walker Percy1309 Words   |  6 PagesIn the essay â€Å"The Loss of the Creature†, Walker Percy highlights his observations on how people perceive the world. He argues that we have lost original, self-driven learning because people only measure their experiences based on other people’s expectations. He states how these preconceived expectations of our experiences give way to a symbolic complex. This complex is set by what people or â€Å"Layman† believe the experts have set. Therefore, their experience is only validated if people feel thatRead MoreThe Loss of the Creature by Walker Percy Essay1061 Words   |  5 Pagesability to have their own experiences. In â€Å"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 individu ality back from the consumer culture that they live in. The biggest and probably easiest way to regain sovereignty is to go somewhere without a camera. The key is to be living in the moment. As Percy says, â€Å"for [the sightseer] there is no present;Read MoreEssay on The Loss of Creature by Walker Percy1570 Words   |  7 PagesThe Loss of Creature by Walker Percy 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 aRead MoreSummary Response Paper: Walker Percy’s â€Å"the Loss of the Creature†710 Words   |  3 PagesIn his article â€Å"The Loss of The Creature,† Walker Percy presents the case that human or â€Å"creature’s† experiences are most often trivial because of our preconceived notions. Percy believes we can only truly enjoy these experiences if we leave the â€Å"beaten track.† Only then can we see the true beauty of the experience. Percy gives three examples to prove his point. His first example describes a tourist’s plans to go see the Grand Canyon. Oftentimes, tourists have preconceived expectations about theRead MoreThe Flaws of the Creature: a Critique on Walker Percy Essay1708 Words   |  7 PagesIn his essay, The Loss of the Creature, Walker Percy claims that there are two types of students: privileged and unprivileged knowers. However, Percy labels his readers by what he feels is appropriate. According to David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky in the introduction to Ways of Reading, it is up to us, the readers, to determine what Percy might mean when he uses key terms and phrases in his essay. Bartholomae and Petrosky believe that The meaning is forged from reading the essayRead MoreLoss of the Creature Analysis1190 Words   |  5 Pages Discovering the Loss of the Creature In Walker Percy’s essay titled â€Å"The Loss of the Creature,† Percy repeatedly attempts to instill the philosophy of realism in the mind of the reader. However, the manner in which he chooses to approach this goal is fairly peculiar, and uncommon among essayists. The essay is one of examples, mostly describing the pitfalls of expectation, and leaving much room for interpretation. It is felicitous that just as Percy desires to ingrain the value ofRead MoreEssay on DISSAPOINTMENT926 Words   |  4 Pages The Loss Of Innocence Have you ever been disappointed ? What a crazy question. At one point or another, everyone is going to experience a disappointment in their lives. Whether it is in a relationship, in education, or even in themselves, everyone has, and will continually keep facing disappointments. In Walker Percys essay, The loss of the creature, Percy discusses how through preconceptions and the surrender of our sovereignty, humans lose the ability to experience life, and its elementsRead MoreAnalysis Of Against Neutrality By Teju Cole768 Words   |  4 Pageslies. Walker Percy’s â€Å"The Loss of the Creature† berates cameras as a distraction from enjoying an experience. Using an interface, as Percy puts it allows people to look back on photos of where they went, but at the cost of giving up â€Å"his right of seeing† (Percy 2). The essayists ask the question of, if cameras are viable to see the world? Percy’s essay tells us that he would say no, that they obscure the truth and Cole would agree that photos taken can be misleading. With that said, Percy calls photographs-Read MoreThe Loss of the Creature vs the Souls of Black Folk Essay example1226 Words   |  5 Pages Walker Percy’s essay, â€Å"The Loss of the Creature† describes the experiences that each person goes through as either a genuine experience driven by own desires, or one that is already preconceived by experts. Percy believes that people can only learn from experiences that are driven by pure personal desire, and not experiences already preconceived by experts. Percy describes the â€Å"loss of sovereignty† as preconceived notions of an experience with the help of experts. W.E.B Du Bois, on the other handRead MoreLoss of the Creature Outside Analysis Essay1436 Words   |  6 Pagesagrees with the most. According to â€Å"The Loss of the Creature† and â€Å"Ways of Seeing†, multiple aspects of having the labels the political parties have inhibit voters from making sovereign decisions. When a candidate is running for an office, they should not have a political party label attached to them because that label can inhibit voters from choosing a candida te who they think will best serve the position to better the region they are running for. Walker Percy constantly reiterates the importance