PLOT | lancelotproject

"I owe a debt to Camus. In his novel The Fall, one man talked to another man, and that's the way it goes in mine. It's an interesting form and a difficult one, something like a dramatic morality play."

-Walker Percy

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1/5

CRITICAL COMMENTARY

Lancelot is a satirical novel about the forces of evil and good. Many can be taken back by the language used towards women and sex, but overall the novel forces enlightenment on a new world--one without sin and corruption. In the story, Lancelot gives "THE GREAT SECRET OF LIFE" meaning that men commit violence on women in order to be happy, and women submit to such violence as their form of happiness. The idea that women allow rape upon themselves may offend several readers, but the value that Percy is trying to portray is that men and women throw intercourse around easily. Participating in sex promiscuously is very much tolerated in modern times--Percy is trying to spark the notion that men and women should value sex as a precious gift, only given to someone that truly loves him or her. Is it wrong to teach children that intercourse should be cherished rather than thrown around?

The style of the novel is unique in the sense that it takes the reader inside of a conversation between two men. Although the discourse is mostly one-sided, the description of Percival's reactions to Lancelot's comments are intriguing. It is obvious that Percival's faith is changing as he listens to Lancelot's confession of sins. Both men, actually, partake in a series of tranformations during their time together at the center for Abberant Behavior.

Overall, Walker Percy's novel discusses several themes that can be considered as modern ideas. This forces us to believe that Percy's novel was published way ahead of its time and would have been appreciated more if it was written today. The familiarity of promiscuity in today's society would allow a more sensible interpretation of the book. Although many critics find Lancelot's revelation that, "the great secret of life, the old life that is, [is] the ignominious joy of rape and being raped" to be far-fetched, the novel revolves around this statement (252). This quote reinforces the theme of sex as a sin. Percy's ideas are controversial at best, but reflect the reality that many are not willing to accept.

Analysis written by Flor Urbina & Vickie Phathaphone

Plot Synopsis

Walker Percy’s Lancelot is a striking novel revolving around the forces of evil and good followed by the foul-play of a marriage that is driven by passionate sex--Percy portrays a satirical and semiotic overview of a man on a quest to finding the "unholy grail." Lancelot begins with Lance Andrewes Lamar living in a cell inside the Center for Aberrant Behavior. Every day he is visited by his old friend and priest-physician, Harry, who Lancelot likes to call Percival. Harry and Lancelot were once the best of friends in grade school friendships, the duo went their separate ways; until meeting once again in the Center for Aberrant Behavior. Each day, Lancelot gives Percival a little insight of the journey that forced him to reside at the behavioral facility, and as the story unravels it also forces Percival to revive his faith.

Lancelot lived in the city of New Orleans, in his large family mansion of Belle Isle, which is the setting of his long tale. He begins the story by recounting the discovery that his daughter, Siobahn, had a particular blood type making it impossible for Lancelot to be her father. Unfortunately, Lancelot spent most of his life at the bottom of the bottle and alone in his pigeonnier which gave Margot, his wife, the upper hand in manipulating him. Deciding to go sober, Lancelot desperately yearns to prove his wife's infidelity. Lancelot takes measures to the extreme by hiring Elgin, the son of house servants, to spy on Margot. Margot is found engaged in a cult-like acting group which has a great number of possible suitors that make Lancelot believe any number of those men could be Siobahn's true father. But in the end, Lancelot catches Margot in bed with her lover; as a result, the book ends in fire, literally.

Throughout the quest, an isolated Lancelot ends up discovering that his adventure did not end in Belle Isle nor in the Center for Aberrant Behavior, but instead began when he decided he wanted to start a new world--a world without corruption and sin.