If we take Father Schall's pointed jest and explore it in relation to Walker Percy's own long journey, we see the heart of Percy's concern, a concern central to his fascination with the mystery of sign, of language, in relation to the reality we experience either by a deportment
through ordinate sentiment to reality or a deportment of sentimentality, that is, a manner divorced from reality.
(Top) Time series of the NPI (sea level pressure during December
through March averaged over the North Pacific, 30 ° N to 65 ° N, 160 ° E to 140 ° W) from 1900 to 2005 expressed as normalised departures from the long - term mean (each tick mark on the
ordinate represents two standard deviations, or 5.5 hPa).