Or, Sisyphus Don't Got Nuttin' on Me...
I have an obsession when it comes to usage of the literary conceit that "eyes are the window on the soul." I understand the concept behind the sentiment, that there is a need to believe that that there are shortcuts to learning what lurks in the hearts of men (and women).
But I would like to believe that a majority of the world recognizes that the human eyeball, singly or in pairs, does not reveal anything about the person in whose orbital socket(s) it, or they, reside.
I will grant that given sufficient opportunity we can learn to judge a person's gross state of mind by examining the set, the play, of the many muscles that populate the human face. We learn what frowns, furrows, dimples, smiles, etc. tend to mean. But the eyeballs, as eyeballs, give away nothing about emotions or states of mind, because they are inanimate.
I don't believe my little homily will do away with the trite and untrue phrases that populate popular literature, but if one person who upon reading this takes the time to recognize the laziness that permeates the writings of the hacks who use these phrases, I will be content.
Why did the lazy ass authors write this crap?: "His eyes flashed with anger!" "Her eyes gleamed as she gazed adoringly at him." "He saw the sadness in her eyes." "Her eyes sparkled as the laughter bubbled from somewhere close to her circulatory pump." "You could see the resentment in his eyes."
The eyes don't do a darn thing but sit there in our faces. Oh sure, their owner can roll them, drop them shyly, move them askance, and even cross them. But that's pretty much it. Everything else credited to the eyes as revealers of state or mind has to do with muscular control of facial muscles, including the muscles that control the eyelids.
And please, will the one person upon whom the light dawns that literature is full of hacks and frauds please let me know of this dawning? Thank you.
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7 comments:
If you never saw sadness or anger in someone's eyes I don't know what you were looking at. But maybe I'm one of those moonbats who responds to art, poetry, music and reads the kind of stuff that encourages this kind of unsubstantiated crap of which you write here.
I even see stuff in actors' eyes when they're playing roles...as I mention here.
P.S. I posted once before and since the link didn't work I am trying again. If it still doesn't work, maybe this will: just click on my name and read the post for 9/18.
Fair Hope, you are certainly correct when you say that I have never seen anger or sadness is someone's eyes. You may have been looking at the person's eyes, but your brain was interpreting the set and play of the muscles and flesh surrounding the eyes.
All I was doing was pointing out a truth: eyeballs don't emit light, sparks, gleams, rays, love, malevolence, or ANY emotion. They just sit there in the skull, surrounded by muscles and flesh that DO move, and from whose movements and positionings we THINK we can interpret all those artsy craftsy thinks you speak of.
It's amazing how otherwise intelligent people feel the need to hang onto bits and pieces of 'knowledge' they believe they've acquired in life. For example, I am just absolutely positive that I am great in bed and all the laughter and mockery in the world is not going to disabuse me of that 'knowledge.' So I think I get where you're coming from.
How about this: If you took photos of faces that clearly showed a strong emotion and then 'photoshopped' away the flesh and just left skull and eyeballs, you would erase the strong emotion as well. The eyes that remained would not tell you a thing about what that person was feeling, which prior to the removal of the flesh had been dead easy to ascertain.
I bet if we saw you while you were talking about this subject, we'd see the passion in your eyes. ; D (See the wink? It's not my eyeball.)
The dawn is breaking... Writers are lazy.
Without facial expressions it would be hard for actors to convey the emotions in the part they are playing. Just ask anyone who has seen a Keanu Reeves movie or watched Al Gore speak.
Nibbles & Mama Hog, thank you.
(Nibbles & Mama Hog... Anyone else see a great movie in that title?)
Sounds like a good buddy movie title.
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