Q: “The sightseer may be aware that something is wrong. He may simply be bored; or he may be conscious of the difficulty: that the great thing yawning at his feet somehow eludes him. The harder he looks at it, the less he can see. It eludes everybody.” This quote is essentially stating that if you are looking too hard to find the beauty in something, you won’t see the obvious beauty in front of your face. The majority of the passage directly relates back to this quotation and makes the theme of the story pretty clear. Through many different examples and analogies, Percy is describing how it’s impossible to see something as beautiful as it was when first discovered, because society’s growing expectations and desires make the natural beauty turn into a “disappointment.” The Grand Canyon was referenced frequently throughout the story to prove that tourists always expect what they have been shown through media, but are then disappointed when the actual beauty doesn’t meet their expectations. Hence, the harder you look for what you’re expecting, the less of the outright, natural beauty he can see. 

C: As previously mentioned, this quote relates to how real people can’t see beyond what they are told to expect. From real experience, there are places that I find absolutely gorgeous and unreal, but when I show them to people they are disappointed. This also happens in the reverse order, where I can’t see the beauty in what others love dearly. It’s near impossible to view something with as much awe as when it was first viewed. Expectations and desires tend to ruin what’s naturally good. 

Q: Why can’t the human brain look beyond expectations? Though the question may seem ridiculous, it’s a genuine wonder. What is preventing us from seeing things through the naked eye, and accepting beauty for what it is?