Essay: The Loss of the Creature by Walker Percy

Similar to the preformed symbolic complex Percy writes about in “The Loss of the Creature,” in the Apology, Socrates is defending himself for the reputation he had in Athens, he spends less time defending himself against his official charges. Socrates is well known for corrupting the youth, which is why he thinks he is defending himself before his fellow Athenians, but his official charge was for him not believing on the gods of Athens. Percy argues there are ways to get around the preformed
symbolic complex; in the case of Socrates the Athenians could not get around it.
The symbolic complex is caused by outside sources influencing opinions and bringing these expectations to one’s attention (Percy, pg.1). In the case of Socrates, the symbolic complex for him would be going into speak on behalf of his charges, knowing that his fellow Athenians see him as a bad person (corrupting the youth & not believing in gods). Through Socrates’ experience with the symbolic complex, he can relate to Percy’s argument. This is because of the expectations he had, having an internal
feeling that he is being charged based on his reputation, therefore defending himself based on his reputation of what Athens thought of of him. He went in defending himself on something he wasn’t even charged for. If Socrates had went in front of his fellow Athenians with the mindset that Percy explicates I believe Athenians would have been able to give him a lesser punishment, since he wouldn’t be talking about the reasons he is hated. He would have gone in defending his charges with a clear mind
on what he is really there for and nothing about his reputation/ speaking nothing on behalf of what people think of him.
Another concept discussed in Percy’s essay is the concept of recovery. Recovery explains how one might recover after suffering from the devastations of the symbolic complex. Percy claims that a person can achieve their own experience by leaving standardized preconception in a society and by leaving the seduction. Thus, if Socrates went in front of his fellow Athenians on behalf of defending his charges without the knowledge of his reputation he had gained, he could have easily defended his official
charge by stating statistical evidence that he in fact DOES believe in the gods of Athens. Leaving the preconceptions behind, one will be able to create their own experience for themself (Percy). Therefore, Socrates would have created his own experience by defending his beliefs in the gods and been able to convince the Athenians that he isn’t as bad as what they make him out to be. This would have caused the Athenians to go off the beaten track and see Socrates for what he really is and not the
opinions they have about him.
The Athenians would symbolically listen to Socrates in the matter of his defense, which could build him up into a “new” kind of character by trying to convince them of his worth in a certain kind of position; believing in the gods. In the moment though, there was no struggle even in trying to recover the everydayness of him, since he began to defend his reputation and cause more of a chaos then defending his official charge.