Recognition and Realization

            To say that “realization” and “recognition” are interchangeable would be untrue. However, to say that they are unrelated would also be untrue. As the base of the word “recognition” would suggest, recognition is a repeat of cognitive (thought) processes as it relates to identifying objects, people, places and ideas that have been previously acknowledged. For someone to recognize is to call to mind a knowledge that has already been acquired. On the other hand, to realize is to create a knowledge that – for the person doing the “realizing” – is new and previously unaccounted for. And yet the two are not mutually exclusive. To realize almost always requires some degree of recognition. Édouard Manet’s controversial painting, Olympia, often requires of its viewers some form recognition before it can be realized and understood what taboo topic is actually being portrayed. The piece, which shows a naked woman reclining on an ottoman, first appears to be a traditional nude painting, glorifying the female form. Those trained in art history however recognize the similarity between this painting and Titian’s Venus of Urbino… a Renaissance painting that (not coincidentally) depicts the same topic in a much more overt capacity. This recognition sparks the realization that Manet’s work actually portrays prostitute, a truth that is much harder to arrive at without the precedent provided by Titian. On the other hand, realization can also come free of recognition. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway realizes through his encounters with Long Island’s wealthiest that the true sense of rugged individualism and innovation that is labeled as the “American Dream” has been undermined by the shallow and petty pursuits of the city’s affluent.