Sam White Mrs. Mackenzie W131 26 September 2014 Comparison of “There is no Unmarked Woman” and “Ways of Seeing” In “There is No Unmarked Woman,” by Deborah Tannen, and “Ways of Seeing,” by John Berger, each author makes their claim on how women are perceived by both society and themselves. However, despite their common themes, the two do indeed differ from one another in many aspects. The perspectives of the writers are different and the way they express their ideas is also not the same. While Tannen bases her essay on a personal anecdote with a lighter tone, using religious examples, Berger takes a much more serious stance, using historical artistic examples. The main difference that clearly stood out while reading both texts is the …show more content…
For example, as a foundation for his work, John Berger chooses the theme of women connected with the art. Since Berger is an art historian and this theme is close to him, we see in his abstract from “Ways of seeing” women that are depicted by art works. In comparison to it, Deborah Tannen describes the women from real life and personifies them. She is basing her work on the situation that she has seen in her own personal experience. Therefore, we can easily understand what the author of “There is no Unmarked Women” writes, since we are living in the same life and era as the women in the excerpt. To comprehend something from the historical point of view and in historical perspective is more difficult than to understand some aspect of a current situation. In her work, Tannen uses an allusion of her being at a conference with three other women and eight men taking part in it. We can clearly see the picture in front of our eyes. We can easily reproduce the specific appearances of the women on the conference. However, considering the men, we can only see just one standardized type that has nothing specific. Here the author shows us that there is no unmarked women. What she proves later is that all women differ and their appearance besides their title and surname can tell us a lot about …show more content…
However, they do it using different methods. Berger speaks about the presence of a man and a woman. Tannen on the other hand highlights the possibility of a man, which no woman has, and that’s to stay unmarked. According to Berger, the presence of a woman shows how she wants to be treated. The presence of a man is connected with power and cannot show anything except of it. On the contrary, woman's presence shows much more. The difference revealed by Tannen includes the appearance of a person. The author writes that every woman tries to show herself by her clothes and look, while a man has a narrower choice to do it and is able to express himself only within the