The Last Gentleman by Walker Percy

A detailed Summary of The Last Gentleman by Walker Percy

In addition to finding meaning and purpose to his life, Will Barrett in Walker Percy's The Last Gentleman must attribute some meaning to his father's suicide in order to resolve his ongoing grief. Suicide survivors experience dramatic shock and trauma as explained in a compendium of articles in Living With Grief After Sudden Loss. Judith M. Stillion, a contributing suicidology expert, states that "those grieving loss by suicide often are left with questions such as why their loved one killed themselves, and what, if anything, might have been done to prevent the suicide" (50). Questions like these are generally unanswerable, and thus they may prolong the process of grieving and condemn "survivors to live in the shadow of that suicidal death far longer than is healthy" (Stillion 50). As a suicide survivor, Will Barrett at the age of nineteen, not only has the usual identity search of a young man, but he also has a special and time-consuming burden to overcome the heightened feelings of guilt, shame, and rejection caused by his father's suicide. In the end, Jamie and Sutter Vaught, as adopted family, help Will find meaning in life and resolution with his father's suicide.

Will's father's suicide destroyed his sense of normalcy and purpose in life. When Will succeeded in his mission to get Jamie baptized, he not only improved Jamie's last moments on earth, but he gained some sense of power and control in his own life. Will now knows who he is, and since he feels he mattered in Jamie's life, he feels he can make a difference in Sutter's as well. Making himself vulnerable, Will professes his need for Sutter; by waiting, Sutter acknowledges Will's need as his own reason for living. Though the novel ends in some ambiguity, it is clear Will is not the same timid, hurt person from the past, but a man who is confidant with a sound direction in life. Will Barrett discovered that caring for another gives life meaning.

Hardy, John Edward. The Fiction of Walker Percy's Novels. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1987.

Will Barrett, in his continuing and all-consuming need to overcome the absence of a father, looks to Sutter Vaught as his surrogate father. Will Barrett feels Sutter Vaught is privy to the secret of life and knows things he doesn't know. Will states that "I have reason to believe you can help me" (Percy 218). He is attracted to Sutter's perception and honesty, and Will tells Sutter he will believe anything he tells him. For instance, as an experiment to test this hypothesis with Will, Sutter rubs Will's eye with a handkerchief and tells him he won't feel anything, even though Will should cringe with pain. The handkerchief hits Will's eye and he does nothing, and Sutter realizes that whatever he tells Will, he will believe no matter what. Sutter states, "I told you you would not feel the handkerchief, so you didn't" (Percy 222). Will's blind obedience and adoration eventually changes as he begins to scrutinize and evaluate Sutter Vaught. After reading Sutter's journal, Will initially admires Sutter's prowess with women; nevertheless, Will finally rejects Sutter's "cynical materialism" (Schwartz 122).

When Will later meets up with Jamie and Sutter in Santa Fe, he "engineers" Jamie's baptism before his death. This function "is the most compelling evidence for what a remarkable, unusual, and prescient character he is-and hence an appropriate interpreter for the reader as well" (Schwartz 127). Jamie Vaught's deathbed scene brings Will and Sutter together allowing them both to matter in the life of Jamie. Together they share in this very spiritual experience of Jamie's death and possible salvation. In fact, Joseph Schwartz considers this moving scene "the finest I think in all of Percy's work" (126). Will had been hired by the Vaught family to come South and act as a companion to Jamie, who is close in age to Will and is dying of cancer. When Jamie and Sutter leave incognito for Santa Fe, Val Vaught, a sister of the brothers, orders Will to depart for Santa Fe to ensure Jamie is baptized before he dies. Will "must physically leave the South and go to Santa Fe, holy faith" (Schwartz 122). Will finds Jamie Vaught, sick with cancer, and Sutter Vaught, sick with cynicism, in the hospital with a Catholic priest. At the deathbed baptism, the priest has difficulty understanding Jamie, and thus Will interprets Jamie's answers for the priest. For example, Father Boomer asks Jamie if he believes God exists and created him, and Jamie looks at Will to ask "Is that true?" (Percy 403). Jamie surprises Will when Jamie looks to him as an interpreter for the priest. "To the engineer's dismay, the youth [Jamie] turned to him" (Percy 403). Will has not felt answerable to such

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Approximate Word count = 2400
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English