The 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 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.
Percy's argument begins with him describing the beautiful site involved in experiencing a new vision or experience for the first time. Explorers seeing their New found land for the first time would be the ultimate first experience. Is Percy correct to relate an experience to that of which he has not experienced? I believe he is at fault for bringing up an experience he is completely foreign to in an effort to explain a different sensation in which he has. At this point, he has dropped himself from that of a distinguished learner/writer to an everyday ...
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...ld happen while I was there and how successful and awesome the coach/team would be ended up to be totally wrong. When I got on campus, the coach turned out to be a total nut as well as a terrible coach. This false advertisement caused me to transfer high schools. A same such thing could happen when visiting the Grand Canyon, in that you could decide to visit another place or not have a good time at all.
In conclusion, 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.
Works Cited
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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.
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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.
DiYanni, , Robert . Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use.” Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. 4th. New York: McGraw Hill, 1998. 408-413. Print.
The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon. (Krakauer 57)” McCandless felt the trip was necessary to fill a void in him. He became so infatuated with adventure that he encouraged others to venture out and explore the world. Unfortunately for McCandless he was very stubborn.
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Said, Edward Wadie. “States.” Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. 9th ed. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky, Ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. 537-575. Print.
Griffin, Susan. “Our Secret”. Ways of Reading Eds. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky. Sixth edition. Boston. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002.
...eading and studying the definitions set forth by Bartholomae and Petrosky, not only does the reader categorize Tompkins as an effectively strong reader, the readers see two other main points. The first point is that Tompkins's strong writing ability can be directly linked to her ability to read "strongly" based on the ideas of Bartholomae and Petrosky. The final point noticed, was that without either the introduction to Ways of Reading or Indians, either reading would possibly lose validity. Each work studied in this duo, appears to aid the others' ideas and arguments. The analysis and perspectives utilized in Indians are conveyed through the processes described in the introduction to Ways of Reading. Vice versa, the arguments made toward the makeup of a "strong reader" would not have been feasibly possible to illustrate without examples such as Jane Tompkins essay.