Use Of Preformulation In The Loss Of The Creature By Crocket Johnson

As one reads Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crocket Johnson, we see an overwhelming amount of freedom through Harold as his imagination and his crayon take him anywhere he thinks possible. However, with freedom comes limitations. To make sense of the freedom within limits in Johnson's story, we are going to examine a text by Walter Percy called "The Loss of The Creature." In this text, Percy talks about preformulation in symbolic complex.
Preformulation is something that is previously formulated by our culture and society. Percy uses the Grand Canyon as an example of preformulation. Garcia Lopez de Cardenas discovered the Grand Canyon and was captivated by the magnificent beauty. Later on the government claimed it as a National Park. "It …show more content…
Harold knows the higher up he went, the farther he can see. "If he went high enough, he thought, he could see the window of his bedroom." (33) Once he reaches the top, he hopes to see his bedroom window. As he looks down over the mountain, he slips and falls because he has not drawn the other side of the mountain. It is at this moment that Harold reacts and draws a hot air balloon, "He had a fine view from the balloon but he couldn't see his window." (39)Another solution from Percy's to escaping the preformulation is a "dialectical movement which brings one back to the beaten track but at a level above it." (48) For example, a tourist may spend all his life avoiding tours and the beaten track. However, when this tourist decides to visit the Grand Canyon, he stands behind his fellow sightseers and sees the canyon through them and their predicament, their picture taking and busy disregard. "In a sense, he exploits his fellow tourists; he stands on their shoulders to see the canyon." (49) Harold drew the mountain to be able to see as much as he can. He is using the mountain like the tourist is using his fellow tourists … to see. The reason Harold fell off the mountain, was because he had not drawn the other side of the mountain with his purple crayon. This is also the case of how he drew the hot air balloon that saved him. With the freedom to draw anything to save him, he chose a balloon. Not only stop him from …show more content…
After landing the hot air balloon, he draws a house with windows, except none of them were his window. He decides to continue to draw more windows, eventully creating a large city with big buildings all covered in windows, "but none of the windows were his window"(50) After a while, he still could not think where his window might be. He then decides to draw a policeman to see if he would help. The policeman just pointed the way Harold was already going. Then, suddenly, he remembered where his bedroom window was, "It was always right around the moon"(57) In Percy's text, he gives an example to a solution on how one can escape he preformulation. For instance, A family visits the canyon in a usual way. Shortly after they arrive, the park is closed by an outbreak of typhus in the south. They are left alone, with the canyon to themselves. "We had the whole place to ourselves." (49) How does one see the thing better when the others are absent? Is looking like sucking: the more lookers, the less there is to see? The freedom not only lies within the limit, but also the preformulation. Harold has the ability to draw anything he wants, and as a result of him being lost he chose to draw a figure of authority. When a child is lost, they are trained to look for authority figures they feel will keep them safe. However, the policeman was no help to Harold, almost as if the policeman was