Literature would be able to describe these people and possibly establish relationship and feelings, something art and pictures cannot do.Īnother example, that writing explains much more than a picture is Berger s On Rembrandt s Women in Bed. Any other conclusion a reader would make would be built on circumstance and not evidence. The viewer can see five people and describe what they look like, but he cannot dig any deeper. Here he is saying by looking at the picture, there aren t many valid conclusions one can make. He says It is not possible to produce circumstantial evidence to establish what there relationships were, (110). Berger is talking about the sitter in a painting by Frans Hals. These two descriptions are important in learning about the character, thus literature is more precise than images.īerger s also states that paintings leave the reader to make many conclusions. A picture cannot significantly show someone being jolly or good hearted. This description is something a picture can not describe. On page 225, DuBois describes a child, he says Thenie was on hand early ,-a jolly, ugly ,good-hearted, who slyly dipped snuff and looked after her little bow legged brother. A writer s words are stronger than the stroke of an artist.Īn example of this could be from W.E.B Dubois s Of the Meaning of Progress. He will leave the reader with a picture in his head of what he is describing. A good author will also paint his own picture by words. By doing this the author can get his point across and the reader can hopefully relate to him.
He does this by describing things, offering opinions, and making conclusions. An author s job is to show the reader his point of view.
When a reader reads literature it is easy to feel what the author is writing about. This can be proven after reading Berger s descriptions of paintings in Ways of Seeing and also reading parts of literature written by W.E.B Dubois. Literature lets the reader feel what the author is thinking, not just see it as you would in a painting. Literature has been the focal point of all modern learning. In this respect images are more precise and richer than literature, (Ways of Reading, 106). John Berger makes a bold statement in saying No other relic or text from the past can offer such a direct testimony about the world which surrounded other people at other times. Pictures Don t Always Paint a Thousand Words
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