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

["Plemmons, Gregory" <gregory.plemmons AT Vanderbilt.Edu>]

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

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