At the beginning of Percy’s work, he begins with a capturing introduction giving an idea of what the entire text would discuss (Percy 1). Percy introduces his work by indicating that every explorer names his desert, beautiful. This dimension of introduction provides readers or targeted audience with an idea that the story would be talking about exploration or issues ascribed to nature. He goes further and describes the discovery of the Grand Canyon indicating how the place was beautiful in the eyes of the explorer. This is an appropriate literary technique as it exposes readers to detailed information regarding the specific aspect of nature that Percy discusses in his writing.
The other major key issue that emerges in Percy’s work is that it has been presented in present-tense; indeed this raises several questions on the minds of any reader i.e. could Percy be talking about a current event? Or is the story meant to exhibit current issues that affect the society? From a personal perspective, it appears that Percy’s intention is to describe the current environmental issues and how human beings have failed to recognize and appreciate the beauty of nature. Percy describes how persons who explore natural phenomena have a different perspective in regard to environmental issues as compared to those that have not engaged in environmental resources.
At the beginning of the story, Percy introduces his work using simple language; however, as the story goes on he introduces technical terms, for instance introduction of the use of values such as p to describe the value of the environment. The use of a technical language in his work could be an indication that his writing is not meant for general readers but for a particular group of people, this could involve persons that have knowledge on issues ascribed to environment.
In addition, Percy Walker in his writing applies the use of hypothetical analogies. He appears to be of an agreement that a significant number of people cannot have a pure view of their experiences. He applies the concept of hypothetical scenarios in order to describe the consequences of having pre-conceived ideas. He does not support the manner in which the current society awards less priority to their sovereignty as well as their capacity to evaluate and identify the value of events (Percy 3). That is, Percy argues that the current society have given up their abilities to appreciate the value of environment as they rely on the opinions of experts.
The above argument introduces another literary writing style in Percy’s work, contradiction. Contradiction is evident in the sense that Percy has failed to recognize the fact that he is one of the experts that people depend upon in order to determine the value of environmental resources. From a personal perspective, the essence of contradiction in Percy’s work appears to jeopardize his credibility as well as reliability. However, it is important to acknowledge that it enhances the fact that the essay is meant to be self-deprecating in the sense that targeted audience are enabled to develop their unique opinions in regard to Percy Walker’s writing.
A careful analysis of the essay indicates that Percy Walker as a writer has not appreciated the use of ethos. It is usually expected that every writer would begin a story or what appears to be a speech by praising themselves as a means of capturing the attention of the audience. In the case of Percy’s work,, instead of praising himself as an expert, he goes head and praises an explorer, Falkland Islander. Falkland is praised for having studied a dogfish in order to satisfy his curiosity (Percy 6). From a personal perspective, I believe that Percy’s failure to describe him as an expert is purposely meant to provide his readers with an opportunity to scrutinize his expertise. In addition, the failure to incorporate personal description could also be meant to ensure that targeted readers do not simply consume what has been provided in the text, but apply their ideas in order to comprehend the text.
Furthermore, the essay is also characterized with the use of fanciful or playful events, for example: Percy incorporates strict scientific writing procedures by ensuring that there is use of drama, exclamation marks et cetera. Consequently, Percy ensures that there is appropriate transition from a fanciful moment by introducing dialogue in his work. It is also crucial to acknowledge that the story includes that use of rhetorical devices: These devices match the purpose of the author.
There is effective use of figurative language as a well as the use of imagery as Percy includes words like “gold-mine” or even “generosity”. Apart from using figurative language, the story involves the use of linguistic precision. In the study of language, linguistic precision basically means the use of most accurate words to provide description of an event or a particular issue that is of interest to an author. In regard to Percy’s essay, the use of linguistic precision plays one major role; to guide readers towards the right direction. Linguistic precision is evident as Percy describes the experience of the sightseers as they interact with the environment. In his perspective, the experience that sightseers have towards the environment can only be compared to what watching a film or a movie (Percy 2).
Moreover, there is use of parables in his work; these parables are meant to elicit creativity among readers are they are not easily identifiable. Generally, Percy’s story appears to be sentimental expression of experience and life. That is, one in which one is supposed to appreciate nature and engage in adventure regardless of the opinions of third parties. In relation to the structure of his work, the arguments are presented in a manner that one might interpret as performance. This could be meant to ensure that critiques jeopardize the genuine opinions of readers/audience; hence, encouraging readers to develop their own views as well as moral in the story in a similar manner as the explorer discussed.
Conclusion
In summary, the story could be regarded as a strong story whereby the writer, Percy Walker expresses his perspectives and visions concerning the modern world. His argument is based on the idea of possessing pre-packaged information concerning certain issues and how this leads to development of symbolic complex in the mind of an individual. In his discussion, one can identify that the essence of possessing pre-packaged ideas or information leads to the loss of the actual sense behind such information. His discussion/narration is characterized with presence of several examples where he describes how certain individuals have lost their experience as a result of symbolic complexes. In the story, the key take-away for any reader is that one can achieve a high level of understanding through their own experience rather than depending on the opinions of third parties, particularly, experts. That is, individuals can experience the highest level of understanding in an event that they desist or avoid prejudices or social biases directed towards certain phenomena. The other key take-away from this essay is that symbolic complex leads to the loss of sovereignty among individuals. Percy Walker explicates how people lose their capacity to be sovereign as they make attempts to assess situations, mainly by relying on expert opinions.
Work Cited
Percy, Walker. “The Loss of the Creature.” The Mercer Reader. Acton: Copely Custom Textbooks, 2006. 1-6. Print
