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  • From: "Plemmons, Gregory" <gregory.plemmons AT Vanderbilt.Edu>
  • To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion" <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [percy-l] [External] LITR slow read
  • Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 03:56:20 +0000

Hi, y'all,

Below are some thoughts I had on reading this section:

Percy’s July Third section takes place almost exclusively within the confines
of the medical school. After a relatively brief and seemingly uneventful
section with Tom’s mother, action/machination returns, this time on an stage,
which is often a useful device itself (the play within a play...)

I wondered about Percy’s choice of the Pit as the setting for this section.
What do others think? He seems to use it to great effect here. Such
amphitheaters are still fairly common in educational settings. How much of
what we consider education is entertainment, and vice versa? Does it matter?
Did everyone else find Mr. Ives to be quite a sympathetic character? The
public inquisition to which he is subjected here is quite humiliating, and
yet while Tom initially seems sympathetic, defending Mr. Ive’s defecation and
mutism, how much is done out of empathy, and self-recognition? How much is
done for spectacle? Tom is quite the critic of how gladiatorial the whole
guise of academic “sportsmanship” pretends to be—and a brilliant
satirist--yet I feel finds himself completely swept up in the game, at times.
Is it humanly possible to remain objective and aware of the Game? (and what
would Percy think of Dr. Phil…)

At one point (p. 219) Tom says “students are, if the truth be known, a bad
lot.” Does he believe this? In this section, the teachers act just as
juvenile—is there hope for future generations, or are we essentially trapped
in the human condition? I keep thinking of the young hippie couple with the
baby, on Honey Island…are they lost, or simply Hope?

At one point, Tom has a fleeting moment of insight—“the thing to do, it
occurs to me halfway down into the pit, is to concern myself with the patient
and what ails him, and forget the rest”—which I think is a shining moment of
grace—but it seems to me that the challenge is how to forget the rest—is it
humanly possible, without the Gift? Without Grace?

Although Percy has never been pegged as a traditional Southern writer, at
least in the Faulknerian sense of place, I’m always struck by his keen
awareness of the nuances of each region and his depiction of Mr. Ives
here—Mr. Ives seems curiously displaced, yet is most likely typical Everyman
for your average 1960’s middle-class Southerner. Ives, we’re told, is from
Tennessee, but lived for forty years in Hartford, Connecticut as an insurance
controller before his wife died (shades of Doris/Catherine?
self-identification?), and he desires to return home to Tennessee (aptly,
Lost Cove--Lost Self?). I’m sure whole essays have been written on this
choice, and What is Home, and what is Self (as someone pointed out earlier,
the Mall-ification of the South)…but it seemed at least worth a comment here.
Can he truly go home? Was he there to begin with?

Mr. Ives: “his monkey eyes snap”—I couldn’t help but chuckle, and wonder
about Percy’s word choice here, having spent the weekend not too far from
Dayton, Tennessee—home of the Monkey Trial—(which is not too far from Lost
Cove, either—if any of you are wondering, which is a real, not fictional
place). Both of those locales are fairly close to Sewanee, where Percy's
family had property, I'm told, and where he spent some time. Nearly a hundred
years later, evolutionary biology is still being debated here (and
nationally) and I continue to be fascinated by the constant
intersection/conflict of science and faith. Interestingly, of note, here in
Tennessee a rebuttal “play/musical” has been written to counterbalance
“Inherit The Wind”--entitled "Inherit The Truth" (and the Creation Museum up
the road in Kentucky is erecting a life-size replica of Noah’s Ark). At least
in my neck of the woods, it seems we need Percy’s voice more than ever…the
center cannot hold...

Greg





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________________________________________
From: Percy-L [percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] on behalf of RHONDA
MCDONNELL [rhonda_mcdonnell AT msn.com]
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2014 5:54 PM
To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion
Subject: [External] [percy-l] LITR slow read

I'm looking forward to reading Greg's thoughts on the July 3rd section of the
novel this week.

In the mean time, no one has stepped forward for the July 4th section, so why
don't we all just post whatever random thoughts we might be having on that
section next week (the last week of July), without waiting for a discussion
leader's post?

Janet will wrap the novel up during the first full week of August.

Rhonda

Sent from my iPad
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