the white bird - john berger (response)

the passage titled the white bird is barely even about a bird. John Berger starts the passage by recalling times that institutions have called him to give presentations about aesthetics and by the way he writes about it i instantly got the feeling that he feels conflicted about what aesthetics actually mean and what meaning art actually has. as the passage goes on the writer talks about this white bird made by european peasants and how the bird is made and later he goes on to talk about it as a craft piece rather than a piece of art. i was thinking it had something to do with the discussion on art vs craft that we had in class but the writing proved otherwise and it went on to talk about something deeper than craft vs art.

the passage goes on to talk about and teaches that the aesthetic of nature is sometimes used in art to provide symbolism by using something familiar. the passage also teaches that culture can also influence the symbolism that is provided by nature and that that same subject in nature can change messages depending on the cultural perception. the last sentence on page 3 sums up the whole passage and to me is the sentence that carries the most meaning out of all of them in this passage.