The Last Gentleman by Walker Percy

In Search of Meaning 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 …

…Percy. Eds. Donald and Sue Mitchell. Critical Essays on American Literature. Boston, MA: G. K. Hall & Co., 1989. 243-58. Percy, Walker. The Last Gentleman. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1966. Schwartz, Joseph. "Life and Death in The Last Gentleman." Renascence: Essays on Value in Literature. 40: 2 (1988): 117-26. Stillion, Judith M. "Survivors of Suicide." Living With Grief After Sudden Loss: Suicide, Homicide, Accident, Heart Attack, Stroke. Eds. Kenneth J. Doka, Ph.D. Bristol, PA: Taylor and Francis, 1996. 41-52.