Berger Tompkins and Rich

A detailed Summary of Berger Tompkins and Rich

Language and images are usually a way to express what someone is thinking, however, language and images can often restrict our thinking in various ways. Susan Douglas, in her essay ,"Narcissism As Liberation", writes about "the great myth...that superficial appearances can be equated with a person's deepest character strengths and weaknesses"(128). The image of what a "beautiful" and what is not is an image that is constantly restricted in our minds. These restrictions come from television, movies, or many other things that people encounter. John Berger in "Ways of Seeing", proclaims that "men survey woman before treating them. Consequently how a woman appears to a man can determine how she will be treated"(46). This further shows what these restrictions do in our everyday lives. Adrienne Rich in her essay "When We Awaken: Writing As Re-Vision" gives her theories on how to free people from these restrictions mainly through "re-vision".

One image that is restricted in our minds is the concept of beauty, that is seen in advertising. These

restriction are put on women. The image of what beauty is, in regard to women, is perpetuated though advertising. Through the advertising and on a larger scale the media, women are told

" To be born a woman has to be born within an allotted

works. If all women can posses this knowledge, then they can avoid the feelings that are a product of this kind of advertising. Thus they will not purchase the products, then these marketing campaigns will probably veer of in different directions, leading to the end of these type of advertisements. This could be the first step of re-vision to avoid and liberate our minds from the restrictions they already have.

that can liberate us is a process called "re-vision". This concept is described as "the act of looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, of entering an old text from a new critical direction"(550). Rich believes that this process is essential for women to further become an emancipated people. She says re-vision "is for women more than a chapter in cultural history: it is an act of survival"(550). Rich plans a way for women to break free from restriction put upon them. This process could work for the restricted image of beauty that Berger and Douglas articulate.

about "perfect faces and bodies, and the psychologically , politically, and economically punitive measures taken against women who fail to be young, thin, and beautiful"(133). They are made to feel inferior if they are not considered attractive, so they feel the need to purchase what is being advertised. Berger agrees that women are often victims of these restriction when he says, "a women's presence...is manifest in her gestures, voice, opinion, expressions, clothes"(46). He believes that women are judged because of this image. This image that today is put on the public by ads that we are subject to wherever we are. It is extremely difficul

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Approximate Word count = 1130
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English