Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion of Walker Percy

["Tommy Armstrong" <tfa AT brickengraver.com>]

Rhonda said:

"NOT being fatally injured, NOT losing people you love, NOT having your home crash down around you"

 

That really is the important thing.

 

Hopefully, ten years from now the student will be able to look back to 2005--"the year of the hurricane" --and remember some good that came out of it. How she was scared, depressed, heartbroken, but still alive and glad she is. Hopefully her life might even be better "after the hurricane" than before--that is the job of America for the evacuees--to try and somehow make that a reality. And its usually those little things that happen that one looks back to --the little acts of kindness--that changes everything. One of course never knows what they will be, the thing that causes a a change in direction towards something , if not better than before, at least something not worse. These depend on individual acts by individuals--the government cannot do it --its an indvidual human to individual human thing--and that I think that is much of the philosophy of Percy. The government is incapable of "love" as is even the Red Cross or any other organization. Individuals human beings are the only entities that are capable of that. Its the job of America to help the victims "To become aware of the possibility of a " new "search".

 

Tommy Armstrong

PO Box 484

Lillington, NC   27546

http://www.brickengraver.com

 

The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life. To become aware of the possibility of the search is to be onto something. Not to be onto something is to be in despair.

 

Walker Percy

 

 

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From: percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of RHONDA MCDONNELL
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2005 2:21 AM
To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [percy-l] hurricane in Lancelot

The thing about feeling good in bad situations seems predicated upon NOT being fatally injured, NOT losing people you love, NOT having your home crash down around you--in other words, it's that supercharged feeling that, in part, is the result of being thankful for being alive in a world newly charged with meaning because of the imminence of danger--but in Percy, Lancelot excepted, it's a danger that doesn't cause permanent damage--remember Binx in the MG with Sharon when they have the fender bender and all the malaise is swept away? Or Will and some girl in the hurricane (was it a hurricane?) when they take the child into the diner and feed him chicken soup and, in the end, everyone is okay? Sort of like the end of War of the Worlds . . .

--Rhonda

The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity. -- WB Yeats

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From: dabeck AT iupui.edu
Reply-To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion" <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion" <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [percy-l] hurricane in Lancelot
Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2005 20:21:53 -0500
>
>First, I want to applaud Henry, who has taken some undeserved shots, for
>trying to bring the list back to the literary/philosophical discussion for
>which it is intended. When those who disagree are labeled as Nazis and
>Klansmen, it's time to step in and bring some integrity (and maturity) back to
>the discussion. Maybe the tree needed to be pruned. Regardless, I appreciate
>his input (why can't members correspond with each other instead of the list? I
>carry on off-list conversations with several members of the list).
> But, since some want to discuss the hurricane, I thought I'd throw out this
>experience. In my fiction class, I have a "displaced" student from New
>Orleans, who, with her family, lost everything (she had two changes of clothes
>as of last week). She came to Indianapolis a few weeks ago, several weeks into
>the semester.
> Anyway, today I began my lecture on Percy and, in particular, Lancelot. It
>wasn't until I was into my spiel on Percy's "hurricane syndrome" that I
>realized I had just (possibly) stepped into a mess. I wasn't sure if I could
>convey the anticipation, the rush, the break from everydayness, without
>seeming pretty shallow (in her eyes anyway). She is pretty shy, so I didn't
>want to "push" her to respond, but I was interested in hearing her take on it.
>But last week, when she came to my office to get "caught up," we talked
>briefly about her situation. She said that they couldn't return, and so she
>didn't know the extent of damage to her home; she did say, however, that the
>area in which she lived was hit hard and not much was left standing (based on
>news reports). But she started to get choked up, so I backed off.
> She is way behind in class work, and I don't think she has been able to buy
>the books (I'm meeting with her tomorrow to work something out). Still, I
>wonder how she will see the whole hurricane effect and the hurricane in
>Lancelot.
> Any suggestions?
>-David
>
>
>--
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>
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