The Loss of the Creature
I really enjoyed this essay and it really “got the wheels turning” so to speak about alot of different issues. First of all, I respect the idea that no one can learn to appreciate things after they have already been found. A question I have on this though is now that the Grand Canyon is found and treated as a tourist attraction, will it ever have the value that it once did? Is there any way that a tourist or visitor, who already knows the Grand Canyon is there, can “discover” it and see it as Garcia Lopez de Cardenas did? I also like the way Percy describes the “educational package.” It definitely explains why sometimes I just don’t get things in labs or when reading from a text book. I had trouble reading at a couple of points in the story but especially this sentence: “Their consciousness of the corn dance cannot escape their consciousness of their consciousness, so that with the onset of the first direct enjoyment, their higher consciousness pounces and certifies…” I’m pretty confused about that statement. This whole essay seems to be about cliche`. It is saying that people for example, go to the Grand Canyon not to discover it, but because a million people before them have done it and now it is unoriginal and not creative. At one point though, when Garcia Lopez de Cardenas first found it, the canyon was extremely powerful and creative because it was his and no one elses.
prof Groom said,
September 11, 2006 at 5:26 pm
Yes, this is a doozy:
Can you give it a shot? What does it mean to be conscious of your consciousness? We often understand this as a particularly human dilemma. What does this”higher consciousnes” demand of the waylayed tourists experience – and what might Percy be suggesting up the authenticty of this “higher consciousness”?
kfitz said,
September 11, 2006 at 10:13 pm
I agree with what you say about the examples. I think that what Percy says makes sense, and is even true in this day and age. The only thing I didn’t like about this essay was how it was written. I felt that Percy sounded egotystical in writing that “nothing could be truly seen how it is the first time”.