Dillard’s essay “Seeing” discusses the topic of sight. She begins by sharing a personal anecdote of when as a child she hid pennies for strangers to find; her idea is that happiness depends on how one sees or finds in this case. A person’s enjoyment rises with how much they care or know about what they’re seeing. She continues by sharing her opinion on what many people see every day, nature. Nature has “unwrapped gifts and free surprises” to enjoy if you look hard enough (Dillard 1). And how does one see nature’s gifts? According to Dillard seeing isn’t as easy as just using your eyes but seeing requires a deeper understanding that she calls the “artificial obvious” (Dillard 2). It’s a complex method that is almost as if you’re looking through another’s eyes. These others that can perceive reality better than the average person are what …show more content…
she calls “specialists” (Dillard 3).
They are able to deeply look at the subject and they know what they’re looking for because how they care for it. Henceforth, her views on sight develop even more when she talked about how darkness or being blind can help a person see better because they appreciate having sight in the first place. This is precisely why Dillard uses the word specialist as synonymous to “lover” (Dillard 3). Dillard makes her thoughts clear- seeing is more complex than previously thought but by having a love for what you’re seeing or being excited to see, one can gain a grander comprehension. Percy’s experts in “The Loss of the Creature” also know to love. They don’t need tour guides or people of authority to tell them what to look for. They’re knowledgeable in that they are aware of the ironical nature of using interfaces such as cameras to see. To them using a camera at a place like the Grand
blocks their vision. Like Dillard’s specialists these experts care about the subject they view and don’t make assumptions of what to expect which Percy phrases as having a “preformed complex”. With this preformed complex comes questions by both essayist of the post feelings of the sightseer-their happiness. Feelings of happiness appears across both text with Percy stating about the family alone in the Grand Canyon “in truth they are the happiest of people and we are happy through them, for we have the canyon to ourselves” (Percy 4). The family gains access to a deeper understanding of what they see because they are alone and can simply experience without having another person explicitly tell them how they should feel. They are shown the Grand Canyon in a new light, they saw a gift. This gift is the same that Dillard talked about which she says is the road to seeing. “[Seeing is always, even to the most practiced and adept, a gift and a total surprise” (Dillard 9) In regard to Percy’s experts and her specialists, they can only see because they waited patiently. The two essayists’ have different insight on sight and how to gain it but they slowly converging down the same path. Percy says that being able to see is a tough matter of getting rid of expectations while Dillard says it’s about waiting patiently. In the end, both essayist’s ideas boil down to one idea. The ability to see comes from the love of the subject and is a long struggle to gain.
Schirato, T. and Webb, J. (2004). Reading the visual. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.
“Animals” is plural, differing from the singular “me.” This shows that not only is Percy comparing himself to a specific animal, but to all animals. Without a defining factor in animals, he could be making the collation of animals as animalistic behavior. What exactly separates “me” from the “animals?” Civilization? Humanity? Self-control? Rules? Percy places himself on the same level as the animals, disregarding the rules and regulations of humanity, many times throughout the essay, but especially when he is chasing someone who has intruded on his territory and aims to kill them with a pair of scissors. The narrator stops to think, “he must have thought that something wild pursued him. And maybe he was right” (cite). Percy leaves animals vague in his title so the reader can connect it with many possibilities, maybe even instilling fear of the unknown. “Animals” gives the reader the idea that he means animalistic behavior or raw instinct instead of an actual
The glimpse of life and what will be gone when you die. The beauty of what people misses while they are caught up in their childish ways.
Within Oliver Sacks, “To See and Not See”, the reader is introduced to Virgil, a blind man who gains the ability to see, but then decides to go back to being blind. Within this story Sacks considers Virgil fortunate due to him being able to go back to the life he once lived. This is contrasted by Dr. P, in “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat”, Sacks states that his condition is “tragic” (Sacks, “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat (13) due to the fact that his life will be forever altered by his condition. This thought process can be contributed to the ideas that: it is difficult to link physical objects and conceptualized meanings without prior experience, the cultures surrounding both individuals are different, and how they will carry on with their lives.
In Walker Percy’s “The Loss of the Creature” he attempts to portray the idea that perspective can be skewed by another’s story, personal experience, and other factors that lead people to have these expectations of a sight or study that lessen the experience. He demonstrates this when he makes mention of the tourists at the Grand Canyon, and the Biology student getting compared to the Falkland Islander. The facts he presents are true, but Percy does not go into detail about individual cases leading to a generalized essay that does not show that each individual account is different, and not all expectations are changed from other information given to people will taint the learning environment or the experience, and because of this the points that are not mentioned as well as Percy’s thoughts will be explained and expanded on.
By not cherishing the gift of sight and using it properly, many discoveries are left unfound. In the writing piece, Seeing, Annie Dillard speaks of nature and the small things that we all are unconsciously blind to and not appreciative of. Seeing explores the idea of what it means to truly see things in this world. Annie Dillard’s main point is that we should view the world with less of a meddling eye, so that we are able to capture things that would otherwise go unnoticed. There’s a science to how we view things in nature.
... creation, asking him what he thinks, the husband keeps his eyes closed, feeling it something he "ought to do." He tells Robert, "It's really something," maybe not referring to the picture, but the actual experience, the way he is seeing a cathedral like the blind man sees it (357).
Some might refer to "seeing" as simply to watch with a naked eye, while some would refer to it as being able to witness an event and recall upon it later. In fact, some would even go as far as that if someone hasn't witnessed something visually, he basically hasn't "seen" it. However, in his essay "The Mind's eye," Oliver Sacks seemingly breaks the norm. In his essay, the blind's adaptation to their disadvantaged is talked about. Yet, it seems like those who were victims of the neurological disorder seem better off blind. Furthermore, another question hanging in the balance is whether the blind people are actually "adapting" to their new lives or rather "reforming" how they will live? Through various stories of blind people, he is able to
Many people in the world get into an almost unbreakable routine, shielding themselves from the real world. We wake up, brush our teeth, go to school with the same people, go home, and do it all over again. Once there is a roadblock in the way, it forces us to step outside our shell and look at others views for a change. American mythologist, writer, and lecturer,Joseph Campbell once said,”We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.” It is the act of noticing others words and actions that will reshape our lives for the better. In “Secret Samantha” and “Sol Painting, Inc.” the authors suggest that observing someone else’s perspective and taking the time to understand others can be mankind's greatest
...thedral together, so the husband got paper bag and a pen to draw on. They began drawing and after a few minutes, the blind man asked the husband to close his eyes and keep drawing. The husband felt different than he’d ever felt in his life. He kept his eyes closed when the blind man told him to open them and look, the husband replied, “It’s really something. (Carver 147)” The husband never thought he would have the experience he did with the blind man, as they basically became friends. The husband’s view of a blind person had changed. He saw life from a blind man’s perspective and actually appreciated it. Never judge a book by its cover, as you have no idea what may be inside of it.
Chapter one of Sturcken and Cartwright’s Practices of Looking, the concept of “looking” was discussed, reasons why we look at some certain things. People usually look at everything and have an opinion or an idea about it, same in art. The majority of art pieces are meant to be looked at, analyzed, discussed, etc. Art is generally made to be looked at by people. It is sometimes the viewer's job to make sense of what the artist’s work it about. Also in the reading, it says that the power in which what we choose to see, those things we look at control our eyes, and it is different in people. People have a different view about anything: politics, religion, sports, art, entertainment, society, etc. So these influences can change our way we see things
Many people take the act of seeing for granted and don’t realize the dazzling sights surrounding them. Caught up in our own preoccupations of life, we usually miss what is happening around us. The author Annie begins with an anecdote from her childhood. She writes of how her impulse and curious compulsions led her to see new perspectives of the world. Followed by her explanation of how people hardly care to take their time and embrace the things right in front of them. There are free surprises and unwrapped gifts, as the author states, that many pass by everyday. Seeing was not the only way she experienced new perspectives. Annie goes on to tell of sitting in the darkness to feel and hear what is going on around her. Blindness was another
However, when our vision is stripped from our secluded selves, reality is all you can truly “see.”
One way to throw light on the meaning of a novel or a painting is to view it in
What holds true to your own belief and your outlook on life is “invisible to the eye.” Revka makes several references to signs of bad omen that were rendered transparent under her judgment because her eyes had merely observed and failed to divine. Unfortunately in her situation, what appeared to be a place of safety had instead generated possibly the most danger. However, the contrary also holds true, adversities can also be of positive value; an ordeal can become a lesson, a spark for growth, an experience that shapes the person for the better. The outcome is dependent on the perception of the situation, one must be able to see in a new light to turn a bad into good, and, likewise, be able to extract the bad from the good. Revka’s statement can also be found in other literature such as the short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, where ironically a blind man was able to understand the true value in others better than those who were not visually impaired. Perhaps the loss of his visual was not a half-empty cup but rather a half-full one because he is able to visualize ideas beyond the surface and truly see the important details “invisible to the