John Berger's way of seeing
The ways the image and texts are interpreted are based on interpreter's perception, belief, past history and interpretation of events. In John Berger's book, 'Ways of Seeing,' the writer explores the way we view and interpret the art. The message provided by the writer relates to interpretation of the message. In the book (both in text and image) there is a message about the relationship of men and women and presence of their power and position. Berger starts his essay with: "It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it" (Berger, 7). In the very beginning of his essay, Berger implies to his readers that it is actually seeing which develops our thoughts and meanings. Using these thoughts and meanings, we interpret our surrounding with words. This very clearly underlines that we describe what we see and what we make of what we see.John Berger's central insight - that "the way we see things is structured by what we know or what we believe" is an insight into how Berger views and acknowledges the fact that what we interpret an image, text or an event according to our knowledge and believe.
Women constantly meet glances which act like mirrors reminding them of how they look or how they should look. Women dream of themselves being dreamt of. Chapter 2 and 3 of the book are devoted to the images women and how the presence of Man differs from the women. Important to note is for women her ultimate success is how she is viewed by the men. The success of the women in life is measured by "how she appears to others, and ultimately how she appears to men" (46). They seem to be the one making merry. In contrast women are looking eager to please the men and only seems to be confident in the presence of the men. She has to survey everything she is and everything she does because how she appears to others, and ultimately how she appears to men, is of crucial importance for what is normally thought of as the success of her life. They seem more confident; confident of themselves and their surroundings. The theme of power is not just restricted to the text but the images of the book also display this relationship of power. From the image, it seems their purpose is to please the men. " (46)This statement by the Berger is very clear indication of the underlying theme of power and its relevance in terms of presence of men and women.
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Acceptance Essays
