Percy's Intention
Percy's novel has succeeded in making a vivid image of the South asit was seen through his eyes and through his direct experience. As we haveseen from the second quote, many of his conclusions have come from a directcontact with the local Southerners, be they black or white. The idea I wish to start with and build upon is that, as seen fromhis black playmates, "mere living may be delightful". Indeed, Percy, indirect contact with the black population, can and is entitled to believe
Seemingly the same with the black style, easy,drawing the best of life and of the life experience, in the case of thewhite aristocracy, there may be somewhat of a negative note. In myopinion, what takes the form of a gay life experience for the blacks, inthe case of the white population, the aristocratic lifestyle is vain andhollow. On the other hand, the whites seem to have their heartsset on virtues that "make living worth while". It may be somewhat of a recipeof a happy living. The text itself lets us believe that onecan manage to draw the beautiful things in life, ignore the less beautifuland simply include them in the "scenery". The obvious differences of race andclass seem to come together when talking about lifestyles. However, even if we consider the discussion above, Percy's intention,in my opinion, is to draw some of the characteristics of life in the Southand to include these characteristics so as to describe not blacks orwhites, but Southerners, with their way of regarding life as a worthwhileexperience, as he himself puts it. If we look at the twoperspectives on life, they may seem the same, however, it is my personalopinion that there is a pejorative note regarding the white aristocracy andtheir style of living. I amasserting this considering the fact that perhaps one would associate the"making living worth while" with debauchery and an easy style. of view, living is "delightful" because life isbeautiful even in bad conditions.
Common topics in this essay:
Indeed Percy,
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white aristocracy,
living delightful,
direct contact,
living worth,
life experience,
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