Comparison Of Georgina Kleege's Television And The Twilight Of The Senses

Our mind is probably the most important part of our body. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to control any of our movements, actions, or our senses, touch, sight, smell, hearing, and taste. Sometimes, our mind does things that we are not aware of such as changing ways of how we say, do, or see things. Georgina Kleege, a teacher, novelist, essayist, and translator, was about eleven years old when she started to lose her sight. In her memoir, The Mind’s Eye, she describes how her blindness has impacted her life and the way she sees the world while being “visually challenged.” Similarly, in Television and the Twilight of the Senses, by Bill McKibben, a naturalist and author, he reflects on his experience of his experiment of perception and comes

These relationships could include the ones with not only people but other things such as nature or our own body. Kleege describes her experience in the Matisse exhibition, in the art museum, with the man who told her she was standing too close to the painting. He didn 't know she was blind and by the time she tried to tell him, he was gone. She explains the thoughts normal sighted people have about vision and how they “can be so naive about vision.” (Kleege 95). With this example, one can realize that due to the difference of the sense of vision, people can have trouble approaching certain people and communicating with ease. With these restrictions, it is difficult to form relationships with people just like Kleege with that man. Likewise, McKibben demonstrates that television or other sources of media could restrict you from having relationships with things such as nature. A relationship with nature can bring many positive things in your life. In his essay, he describes being in the mountain after so long of not being exposed to the outside and states, “Thats because the mountain also exposes you to cold, damp, wind, heat— when you finish with these, and move on to warm, dry, cool, you still feel comfort. You feel pleasure, joy.” (McKibben 113). With this quote, McKibben proves that having pleasure and joy in a relationship makes that relationship a pleasant one. If having a relationship with nature will give

Relationships and experiences come hand-in-hand. The only difference is that you do not necessarily have to have a relationship with someone or something in order to experience it. When the mind and our senses come into the picture, they play a big role in how we experience something. Not everyone experiences something the same way. There could be good experiences that could have been bad for someone and vice versa. For example, someone with normal vision is in a dance class. For them, learning a routine or dance could be simple, just look at the choreographer and look at yourself in the mirror and copy what they are doing. In the case of Kleege, she describes “Though teachers and choreographers often demonstrate positions by steps, they also give oral instructions.” (Kleege 103). Since she is visually challenged, she had to experience the learning of a dance through a different way. This makes the experience itself very challenging for her compared to someone who could easily see what the move is. McKibben’s point of view of experiences and the sense is that when it comes to something as simple as watching television, we restrict our senses. He states, “TV chops away perspective too. On the mountain… your peripheral vision fills in all sorts of details, constantly. When you watch TV your peripheral vision ceases to function.” (McKibben 111). This exemplifies the fact that your mind is restricting you to