"The Loss of the Creature"

In the essay,"The Loss of the Creature," Walker Percy talked about the loss of sovereignty that occurs when visiting a a vacation place. Most often, when one goes to visit some place, they already have a picture in their head about what it should look like, the smells, the sounds, and when they get there it turns out to be either completely different or exactly what one pictured. Percy discussed the Grand Canyon and how most tourists now are not really interested in it unless they go off the beaten track or have something exciting happen to them while there. I thought that was right on point, because I went to the Grand Canyon a few years ago with my family, already knew pretty much what it was going to look like from online and history class, and when we got there it just wasn't as exciting as I thought. I mean don't get me wrong, it is beautiful, but since I already had the picture in my head it wasn't spectacular. It wasn't until my dad and I found a path to walk on and climbed on the side of the canyon, that I actually found it more beautiful than ever.

Then when Percy talked about the couple who went to Mexico and finally found a part of the vacation that seemed interesting, it caught my attention too. It was funny that they felt they had to have the ethnologist approve their festivities, to make sure they were good. I think sometimes we do that, because we may not be having that great of time so we try to bring others into the situation for entertainment or comfort, but also because we lose our sovereignty. Sometimes when going on vacations, we put pictures in our heads of what they are going to be like and hope they turn out that way, but it can't always happen like you want them to. I think you have to take them one step at a time, and be happy that you are with your family or friends and having fun.