Analysis:
The preceding narrative is from a time in my life not too long ago. It reminds me of Walker Percy’s essay The Loss of the Creature in the sense that things are not always as they appear to be. Percy’s thesis is one mustn’t blindly follow what we are taught, but rather, one must discover for himself what is genuine and true. My personal story, however, is slightly different than those of others in the fact that I’ve been battling addiction since the age of 15, and cannot relate much to the worlds of those whom have traveled and been regular folk. Nonetheless, I feel that my experience still relates to Percy’s message on the grander scale. Percy gives examples of world travels and sightseers, whose views may be tainted by predetermined …show more content…
Worse, the layman, or consumer, may be unaware that they are not actually experiencing what they think they are, due to policing and careful meticulous planning. In Percy’s The Loss of the Creature, the consumer is the tourist or the laymen, and the planner is the the institution, while the expert authenticates. Percy also speaks of sovereignty, which is defined as having supreme power or authority. Percy urges his readers to not fall victim of the words and dealings of so called experts or planners that may have ulterior motives, albeit their intentions may mean to be helpful. Certainly, one can agree with Percy, for we live in a society today that is filled with expectations of grandeur, competitions amongst friends and strangers alike to one up each other at best, to one up their own self at very least, and in today’s world of technology and fancy gadgets such as streaming television and smartphones, satellite transmissions, and the world wide web, the urge for instant gratification is high. Sadly, it is agreeable that there is a tendency to be more focused on the expectations one holds due to gimmicks, advertising, and hype, than a focus on thinking for oneself. Percy claims that “now the sightseer measures his satisfaction by the degree to which the canyon conforms to the preformed complex.”, meaning that depending on the conditions of what a person has been sold in expectations, that consumer may or may not be pleased with what he
The preceding narrative is from a time in my life not too long ago. It reminds me of Walker Percy’s essay The Loss of the Creature in the sense that things are not always as they appear to be. Percy’s thesis is one mustn’t blindly follow what we are taught, but rather, one must discover for himself what is genuine and true. My personal story, however, is slightly different than those of others in the fact that I’ve been battling addiction since the age of 15, and cannot relate much to the worlds of those whom have traveled and been regular folk. Nonetheless, I feel that my experience still relates to Percy’s message on the grander scale. Percy gives examples of world travels and sightseers, whose views may be tainted by predetermined …show more content…
Worse, the layman, or consumer, may be unaware that they are not actually experiencing what they think they are, due to policing and careful meticulous planning. In Percy’s The Loss of the Creature, the consumer is the tourist or the laymen, and the planner is the the institution, while the expert authenticates. Percy also speaks of sovereignty, which is defined as having supreme power or authority. Percy urges his readers to not fall victim of the words and dealings of so called experts or planners that may have ulterior motives, albeit their intentions may mean to be helpful. Certainly, one can agree with Percy, for we live in a society today that is filled with expectations of grandeur, competitions amongst friends and strangers alike to one up each other at best, to one up their own self at very least, and in today’s world of technology and fancy gadgets such as streaming television and smartphones, satellite transmissions, and the world wide web, the urge for instant gratification is high. Sadly, it is agreeable that there is a tendency to be more focused on the expectations one holds due to gimmicks, advertising, and hype, than a focus on thinking for oneself. Percy claims that “now the sightseer measures his satisfaction by the degree to which the canyon conforms to the preformed complex.”, meaning that depending on the conditions of what a person has been sold in expectations, that consumer may or may not be pleased with what he