Ways Of Seeing By John Berger

“Seeing Ourselves” by Arthur Gottleib is an opened form poem that consists of four no rhyming quintains with the exception of the last stanza. The subject focuses on a complicated relationship between a man and a woman. In the poem, the speaker is a man who is having trouble with his love life. The theme of this poem is that one can only fight and battle so much for something they love before they meet the end and give up. The tone begins in frustration mixed with sadness, but in the end switches to hopelessness and gloom. At this point, the speaker has realized that he has been ‘fighting’ for a lost cause.

In “Ways of Seeing”, John Berger, an English art critic, argues that images are important for the present-day by saying, “No other kind of relic or text from the past can offer such direct testimony about the world which surrounded other people at other times. In this respect images are more precise and richer literature” (10). John Berger allowed others to see the true meaning behind certain art pieces in “Ways of Seeing”. Images and art show what people experienced in the past allowing others to see for themselves rather than be told how an event occurred. There are two images that represent the above claim, Arnold Eagle and David Robbins’ photo of a little boy in New York City, and Dorothea Lange’s image of a migratory family from Texas; both were taken during the Great Depression.

In our society today, there are many ways identity plays a role in how people live their lives, as well as how people are viewed or treated by others. A big part of a person’s identity comes from their gender. Men and women are raised differently, whether it be their beliefs and ways of thinking, how they view their future, or the actions they choose to take throughout their lifetime. In both Katha Pollitt and Silko’s essays, they discuss the differences in the lives of men and women and how these differences result from society’s expectations by using metaphors and life examples to explain their message to the reader, as well as allow the reader to connect to this message.

There is something subtle about attitudes toward women, something that many people act in accordance to but are only subconsciously aware of. It is the constant judgment that women face, and it is also something Deborah Tannen noticed while sitting in an ordinary meeting one day. During that meeting, she found herself noticing only the females of the room, not the men. Tannen then realized that it was because “The men’s styles were unmarked” (Tannen 389). While there are standard hairstyles and clothing for men, there are none for women. Everything that a woman wears is a reflection of who she is. In her piece titled There Is No Unmarked Woman, she writes about her experience and concludes that women cannot escape judgment no matter what they do.

Women’s social standing was very important to both men and women. A woman’s appearance was the easiest form of determining her social class. If a woman was dressed in a skirt and blouse or a

In the book, The Conscious Reader, there are many stories by many different authors. All these stories are different but at the same time they are alike. They all in some way deal with education. Whether it is using education, gaining education, or giving education, they all have their way to show that education is important.

Annie Dillard’s “Seeing” discusses the two possible ways to properly see things and relates them to light versus darkness in nature, and upstream versus downstream of a river. The essay explains that there are two ways to see things in the world; to look for something specific, or to let go of that desire to see something. Both types of seeing are also combined with either brightness or darkness and with either upstream or downstream. Dillard has trouble seeing anything in the upstream of the river because that part of the river is always dark or cloudy. On the other hand, she can see the animals in the downstream of the river, where everything is bright and lively. The river is split in two different symbols which help show the best way that one should view nature. The downstream and the upstream of the river have unique characteristics, and Dillard also compares them to darkness and light. By using powerful imagery and diction, Dillard is able to compare the two types of seeing and explain why letting go of the desire to see is the best way to look at things.

Berger’s first claim which sets up the premise behind Chapter 3 is that socially, a woman’s existence is different from that of a man’s. A man’s presecence is tied to how much or how little power he possesses and how he executes this onto the world at large. He is the doer, the achiever, the generator. In contrast, a woman’s existence is manifested by how she communicates that existence to herself, which then becomes interpreted to the rest of the world. She adjusts herself (voice, gestures, etc.) so as to adapt to a viewer. She lacks autonomy and therefore becomes an object, or rather a sight.

He states that they have to be careful of how they come across them, because they could be harassed in a hurry, or how they are nervous creatures, that can be easily excited. This makes the readers believe that men are careful the way they come across women to make sure they don’t upset them or cause anger towards them. The psychoanalyst states that if they ever found them, that they would make a strange strangling sound, which is often mistaken for their laughter. Also they might smile, which is a simple reflex and serves the purpose of disarming us (541). Studies have shown that women are more concerned about their body image, less satisfied and more critical about their bodies, and are more preoccupied with appearance and weight than men (Soffer 578). The narrator uses a metaphor; “if only some dim level, of our reputations in our respective fields” (542) to describe that when the women meet them, they will accept them like their reputations have upheld them. In the diction the author uses to describe how the men think of them shows that if when they do meet the women that the women will want to be with them and accept them how they are. In the mountains where men have never coexisted to women, they might feel as they are being intruded.

People tend to views an image based on how society say it should be they tend to interpret the image on those assumption, but never their own assumptions. Susan Bordo and John Berger writes’ an argumentative essay in relation to how viewing images have an effect on the way we interpret images. Moreover, these arguments come into union to show what society plants into our minds acts itself out when viewing pictures. Both Susan Bordo and John Berger shows that based on assumptions this is what causes us to perceive an image in a certain way. Learning assumption plays into our everyday lives and both authors bring them into reality.

It must be said that men of power create the structure of life--which is not necessarily profitable or fitting to women, nor to the human race in its entirety. Women do not live in this structure:“They lead beautiful lives--women. Lives not only divorced from, but irrevocably excommunicated from, all reality” (156).

Throughout Ways of Seeing, John Berger uses European oil paintings and art to describe the relationship between women and men and the way that men view women. The entire chapter focuses primarily on a women’s body, how her body is surveyed by men, and how this causes the women to also survey herself. When first introducing the relationship between men and women, Berger clarifies women are an object of vision, stating,

John Berger once stated, "men act; women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at." Berger describes this sort of duality of existence in a women wherein she is constantly conscious and concerned with mannerisms; basically, there is always a part of her that it outside of herself and watching with self-discriminating attitude. (1) A women is "the surveyor and the surveyed." (1)

Men and woman see, and access the world in different ways. The views of author of John Gray (1992) can be gleaned simply from reading the title of his book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. Though arguably exaggerated, Gray’s words seem to embody a popular belief, that men and woman are inherently different; almost – seemingly – from different worlds. It is the

The period between the wars was a very difficult time in Germany. The currency was enormously depreciated and there were extreme poverty, depression, and political instability. When the Nazis took power in 1933, horror was their method of achieving their goals. Fear and violence became very common among a society that was still in shock after the First World War. In the book The Reader, by Bernhard Schlink, one of the main themes is a conflict with the inner-self. This is seen throughout the book when Michael is young and indecisive between spending time with Hanna or his new friends, when Hanna is on trial and does not know whether to confess her illiteracy or accept being declared guilty, and finally when an older Michael is trying to decide on whether he should save Hanna or respect her dignity.