1. The title includes the LAST crusade simply because the grail is the most coveted item one could find. There is no higher achievement one could aim for. His crusades or missions after finding the grail would be of no comparison. As a whole, the titles adds to the brevity and importance of Indiana's quest compared to everything he has ever accomplished.

2. I think the director included young Indiana to show that he is worthy of his quest. From a young age, he was fearless, had reverence for the church, and waned to do the right thing. He had no personal use for the cross, but he stole it to have it be where it belongs. Later, he talks with his father about how heartbroken and torturous it would be if the Nazi's found the grail- this is because they are "unworthy." Indiana on the other hand, has no mal intentions, he is finding it for all the right verses the wrong reasons.

6. In order to get the grail ultimately, Indiana must believe. I think this stipulation sounds so simple, but it is also the most difficult thing. Once he crosses the three obstacles, he must choose which grail is the right one. Indiana uses all his knowledge to pick the correct grail. Finding the grail is not simply a mission, more than that it is a spiritual passage. Indiana's father was healed with holy water. This is an extremely religious "event." He would not have been healed if he himself did not believe in the grail/ god himself.

8. As stated above, I liked the three challenges and the stipulation to find the grail. Although Indiana chose the right grail, I thought it was a little absurd that they had to choose one blindly. Overall, it satirizes the notion of "questing" for the grail- how it truly is the most holy and beloved of all things, yet unavailable to mortal man. One can go through many hardships and still not attain what they are after, due to little mistakes or big ones.

My prediction was right! Cheryl is infatuated with Persse! I thought it was interesting how Angelica impressed highly upon both of them- both with Persse's desire and Cheryl's choice in literature. Both Cheryl and Persse seem to be on a similar journey. They are both exposed to the non-ideal and the truth of their career oaths, though they both make the best of it.

Swallow disappointed me a little. I thought he was a coward. Rather than owning up to his affair with Joy, or coming up with a cover, he just falters. It is not as if he didn't flaunt her at all the other academic conferences!

I see many similarities to Perceval in Part three of the text. We learn that Angelica leads a secret second life as a stripper/ show girl. The knight (Perceval/Persse) is being exposed to deviance and the sexual world, while discovering his ultimate grail. For Persse, it is recognition as a professor of literature and the love of his maiden, Angelica. He is having his innocence shed from his while on his quest for Angelica and as he gets more emerged in culture of the conferences. Nothing ever is as it seems. He wants to somehow save Angelica, to keep her innocence and well being, although it is completely out of Persse's hands; instead ,like Perceval, he loses himself. Persse looks for Angelica until he is not longer able, and he must travel back to a place he is familiar, and, re-evaluate his work.

I found that the professors within the novel are simply putting on a mask within the world of academia of what a professor "should be," when in fact they lead interesting lives outside their passionless work. Swallow often groups himself in comparison with others saying "University teachers would never..." when in reality they are just like everyone else. The character of Cheryl is interesting in regards to this. Though her work is very repetitive and boring, like Persse, she makes the best of what it is to find joy in her life. It is almost the opposite of all the professors- they esteem their job very highly yet at the heart of the matter they truly do not enjoy what they do. Lodge says that in Cheryl's "hands she made an art of seat allocation." On a whole, Small world satirizes careers and work in general. Though the job does not make the man (as some of the professors seem to believe), the man truly makes the job (as seen with Cheryl, Angelica, and Persse). No matter what esteem society may hold your job or position, it says nothing about the character of the person.

It is ever more clear that this novel is a modern medieval tale. Persse has this unjustifiable desire for Angelica, yet she is unattainable. The conventions and travels are like a knight's quest or journeys for a greater purpose. His meeting with Angelica is perpetually prolonged, adding to his pining lust for her. As we have spoken in class in regards to other novels, I do not believe this love Persse has for Angelica to be pure- rather I think he loves the chase of it all, and the image in his head of her.

2. Persse seems to be the average person, caught up in this academic world solely by chance. Like Chretien's perceval, he is emnamored by all the experianced professors at the conferance, yet feels strange in this new world. "He stumbled against the wall and remained pressed to it for a moment while his sight accomondated to the gloom." Persse seems to be very out of place compared to the other characters.

4. Angelica is like the maiden or mistress in the medieval romances we have read. Everyone seems to be drawn to her based off her looks. "Angelica found someway to elude to him for the rest of the morning." Persse is completely in love with her although he has not truly gotten the chance to get to know her yet. Like Persse, her age and experiance also puts her out of place in the whole conferance.

6. I enjoyed MOrris Zapp's comparison of literature to a stripe tease! Although it is a little crooked, I think what he is saying makes perfect sense. More than just words and stories, literature has to be dug into to find or gain any true meaning.

2. Perceval begins to weep when he goes to repent to the hermit. When the hermit himself asks why he is weeping and why he is repenting, Perceval confesses it because he ever asked about the lance and the grail. Although he says this, it becomes immediately clear this is not something that bothers him, rather everyone else around him. Finally the Hermit is the one to shed light on the situation, bringing up the fact that Perceval caused his mother's death, and sub consciously, this has affected all his actions. His self image is stripped away here to reveal someone who can finally understand themselves. Perceval is his most vulnerable because the thing he is most passionate for- the knighthood- has changed the person he once was, for a new one that does not have a stable ground to stand on. Perceval has been trained to be a knight and a person by everyone else's standards but his own, and now, though it is unattainable, he wants to begin a journey back to the world he knew as a child with his mother, when things were simple.

3. Perceval has failed to act noble in almost all f his quests. Beginning with not turning around for his own mother, Perceval still acts as if the very principals of knighthood do not apply to him- ignoring the woman in authors court who was slapped, and effecting any innocence that surrounds him. The most charitable thing one can give is himself- and that is one thing Perceval will not give. His selfishness leads him into destruction- acting only upon things that will benefit his knighthood. Similar to how Perceval was first exposed to the knighthood- being completely enamored by the portrayal of the knight rather than what they do/ and/or represent, he only wants the one aspect of it all, the image.

1. Chretien writes a very long opening prologue. He gathers information from different sources, and leaves analyzation open to the reader. First, he opens with a quote that could possibly illustrate the actions of his main characters. " He who sows sparingly, reaps sparingly, but he who wishes to reap plentifully casts his seed on the ground that will bear him fruit a hundredfold; for a good seed withers and dies in worthless soil." Chretien opens with this quote for a purpose. Whatever effort one puts into things, will be the outcome of it all; rather than wish for things to happen, one must take action in order to achieve it. Next, Chretien shows the purity of "the count" but also his almost contradictory gospel quote that he lives by- "let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing." IN other words, it is acceptable to sin if it does not interfere with the other aspects of life. I think that Chretien will create a man who is not a bad person, yet he lusts. He will put all his effort into everything he does, and unlike some of the other characters we have focused on, with this romance the characters can 'have a life' too.

2, Perceval is completely enamored with the knights. Whatever they say to him seems to be clouded by his sheer curiousness and wonder. Chretien plays upon the senses to make the knights seem larger-than-life. At first, Perceval can only hear them approaching; he things it is someone from the devil coming after him. Next, the knights step into the sunlight and Perceval can see their glory. Once they are in the light, they are the next extreme: angels. Perceval must touch their lances and their armour, he is not satisfied by letting the knights pass as they wish. Perceval puts them at God's level, and meanwhile the knights do not care about their positions at all-one said he was just knighted five days before. Chretien draws ultimate irony when the one thing the boys wants to be, a knight, is what he was destined for, but ultimately cannot be, according to his mother.

3. Perceval's mother is afraid of losing her son like she lost her husband, and references him to her only happiness and joy. She knew that he would be drawn to such a life if he was exposed to it. Like the conversation with the knights, Perceval only hears what he wants to hear. He ignores her words, and makes a plan to be knighted, gets dressed and leaves. For being his mother's only joy in life, he is completely insensitive to her feelings at all. His mother tries to give him last advice before he departs, yet Perceval YET AGAIN, asks about chapels and churches. I think his ignorance will ultimately lead to his downfall. You cannot be an ignorant knight.

I am annoyed it Perceval's character!