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The first chapter of John Berger's book Ways of Seeing, as well as the whole book, is penetrated with the idea that images occupy the central place in peoples life. The author believes that the so called iconic signs are the best way to convey feelings and emotions. Berger writes: 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 The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled. It is quite true because language is far not the most important part of peoples daily lives.
History witnessed a long period in the development of the humanity when people could not speak but at the same time they for sure were able to express their feelings. It was clearly understood if they were trying to express love, friendship or hate. The thing is that peoples physical abilities were not all fully realized from the very beginning. They did have a tong and a mouth but they were unable to use them for speaking they could only repeat the sounds of nature (birds, animals, plants, water, wind, etc).
On the contrary, their eyes were always instruments of perception of the outer world. Peoples nature established it so that people can not stop seeing at least if they are not blind. Nowadays people see many things they wouldnt like to or regret seeing. However, seeing is a must for people and it is very difficult to decide whether it is a blessing or a curse.
The history of this organ in combination with its functions is the reason for human eyes to occupy the chief position in the process of accepting and interpreting information. Perspective [which is not a natural but a cultural phenomenon] makes the single eye the centre of the visible world. Everything converges on to the eye as to the vanishing point of infinity. Judging from this point of view, John Berger decided that it is natural that things appealing to human eyes appeal to human soul. That is why painting and photos are the things which appeal to human heart by means of human eyes. There is a direct route from eyes to soul as far as eyes are a mirror for the soul they are a kind of an indicator of the state of a persons soul.
Indeed, when a persons look is considered to be sad or happy, the look in his eyes is meant. In this respect, following Walter Benjamin's argument in "The Art Object in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, " Berger argues that the technologies of photography and motion photography work to divest the image of its prior claim to a perspective centrality: "What you saw was relative to your position in time and space. It was no longer possible to imagine everything converging on the human eye as on the vanishing point of infinity." Photography as well as painting is a kind of a materialized memory. The author agrees that earlier all people could do was remember their good and bad times, or write their zebra-life down into their diaries. With the flow of time technology developed and new ways of memorizing appeared.
Photography is one of them. By picturing the world around people do the same work as when they write their memories in a notebook, but this time the memories become more colourful and vivid, more memorable, so to say. This is not the same about painting. It appeared a lot earlier than photography. It started with the pictures of animals and events connected with them on the walls of ancient caves and developed into a real art which allows everyone to express their inner world, splashing his or her feelings onto the canvas. A picture is more a reflection of human soul.
When emotions start boiling up in ones heart, they feel that they are not able to keep them inside any longer, they paint, opening the copies corners of their soul to art-lovers. John Berger compares photographs with prior paintings and occasionally finds out that the meanings of the first in comparison with the second is de centred and diffuse. Berger writes: its meaning multiplies and fragments into many meanings. As an example John Berger discusses an image, which is shown on television. Naturally, at that particular moment the image can be seen by millions of people who sit in their comfortable armchairs watching television. Its common knowledge that there are as many heads as many minds.
In this respect it is clearly understood that each person watching the TV at the moment when this picture is being shown understands and interprets the picture in his or her own way. This structure resembles a tree: there is a single trunk along which one can go up (this is the single picture shown on television), in a while one comes to a great variety of paths the trees brunches. Each branch is different from any other on the tree, each branch is unique (as well as the interpretation of the shown image in any individuals head is unique). The thing is that human mind is a huge mincing-machine. The events that take place around people get into it, are thought over or minced and after that the minced result comes out in the form of peoples opinions and emotions (sometimes people find this or that picture moving, sometimes hilarious, sometimes they discover that they are quite indifferent to it). However, in fact, people can never know what they see.
They can not even be sure that what they see looks the way they see it. Perhaps, this or that objects correct look is how dogs or cats see it. The author backed up this example with a classic representation pf perception, Magrittes The Key to Dreams (illustrated on page 8). This painting depicts a school blackboard divided into four parts. Each part contains a signed image with words under it. In one of the four parts there is a head of a horse with the words the door under it.
Another part portrays a clock signed the door. The third part represents a jug captioned the bird. Finally, the fourth picture shows a suitcase labelled the valise which is correct but in a different language. The picture is very contradictory and this effect was done on purpose. The author, using it as an illustration, aims at proving that what people see is almost always in conflict with what people know. Talking about the contradiction, it is necessary to mention the fact that in this picture all the words are given with the definite article, which contradicts English grammar.
In addition, the words and pictures are mismatched. This is used to show that an individual can not always fully understand and apprehend the surrounding world, which occasionally ruins his or her expectations. Similarly, John Berger uses Van Gogh's painting. John Berger placed it in the bottom of page 27.
In this page the picture is not signed. Irrespectively of that, the viewer can easily understand that it was painted by Van Gogh (judging from its style) and can surely say that the painting depicts a landscape of a cornfield with birds flying out of it. After that John Berger advises his readers to look at it for a moment. Then turn the page. On the next page the readers see the same picture with two bits of text. The first states that this picture is a WHEATFIELD WITH CROWS BY VAN GOGH 1853 - 1890, while the second simply reads This is the last picture that Van Gogh painted before he killed himself.
So, this is a vivid example of at least two different ways of seeing the author wanted to present. This is the same about any picture or image as well as about any event that takes place in peoples life. There is a great lot of ways of seeing. This is vividly seen when people express their opinions about disputable questions like what is beautiful or ugly, right or wrong, etc. However, human life consists of contradictions and differences in ways of seeing or opinions, which all together give the basis for communication. When peoples points of view do not coincide, they start discussing or arguing over this or that issue.
It is common knowledge that real truth can be reached only by means of discussion. In fact, different ways of seeing are the basis for the birth of truth. Naturally, the existence of truth is also a disputable question, but the whole development and evolution of the humanity was devoted to it. People always wanted and still want to find out the truth.
Perhaps, this aim can be achieved through the combination of all the different ways of seeing. It could be true that truth is a synthesis of all the opinions in the world. That is why it is very important to try to find common language with your surrounding to add up to the achievement of a common goal of all the humanity.
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Research essay sample on The First Chapter Of John Book Ways Seeing
