The Gaze by Elif Shafak recounts the narrator's experience in Istanbul at the end of the 20th century as an obese woman navigating in his existence as a spectacle for the eyes of those around him. Throughout the text, Shafak asserts to the reader that the narrator's tribulations are a legacy of the timeless human affair of assuming power by looking at others or manipulating the gaze of others. The most prominent motif of gaze in the text is the “Dictionary of Gazes” (DG), a series of epigraphic entries that document how the gaze and the power plays associated with it permeate factions of human existence. These entries appear scattered throughout the narrative, taking the structure of a word followed by its definition as linked to the idea of ​​sight and gaze. This essay will explore how Shafak uses DG to assert the notion of power play. She describes it as a lexicon of the gaze, a tool of suppression and finally an entity with the desire to undermine and aid the narrative. The DG is presented as an effort by BC, the narrator's romantic partner, to prove that "everything has to do with seeing and being seen" (91). Throughout the text, the entries form a lexicon of gazes, asserting that the gaze is an incessant power play. Shafak does this notably through cultural and intertextual allusions in the entries. This establishes the universality of the gaze and affirms the idea that the gaze and power play and are strongly associated. For example, the entry “Zahir” (76) names God “the one who cannot be seen” (76). It is based on the Islamic tradition that “there is no image of God” (Green, 2015). The entry sets out the idea that power is given an inability to be looked at. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In the entryway, “armor” (86) offers greater security when the body is hidden from outside view. Although the first is an allusion to supreme knowledge and the second a reference to an everyday entity, both entries present the idea that power is relegated when it is made visible to the gaze of others. This recurring technique of narrating a mixture of allusions presents the universal relationship between power and the gaze. Additionally, the entries possess a disembodied tone, reinforcing a sense of authority within one's acquaintances. The tone of the entries is all told from a third perspective. This allows the reader to understand that the body behind the entries is omniscient and objective. This is accomplished through phrases that are deep and often ambiguous in their interpretation. They indicate a higher form of understanding that connects the inputs, which is sometimes beyond the reach of the reader. An example of this is the end of the entry about the god of hunger eating himself. The last line of the entry is “it was not their stomachs that could not be filled, but their eyes” (108). Although there is no mention of view in the entry, the last line draws out the idea, creating ambiguity about what the entry was trying to propose. Although it allows the reader to interpret the input, Shafak uses this technique to create a feeling of incomprehension in the reader. In doing so, she demonstrates that the DG has knowledge beyond the reader. Thus, allowing the reader to further consider and accept his message of power and his gaze. Thus, Shafak presents the DG as a lexicon of gazes that proves the universality of the relationship between gaze and power, reaffirming this idea by giving the entries an omniscient tone. Then the DG turns out to be usedby BC as a tool of repression against those who watched it. BC is a dwarf and, like the narrator, is "trapped in a state of invisibility"; just like many people exposed” (233). This line reveals his position in society where overvisualization has silenced him. BC's writings on the DG are revealed to be an exploitative process in which he "collected materials from every possible source", implying a sense of insatiability regarding the method of his collection. Additionally, his way of telling the material was to "take pieces of my stories and those of others and record them all together", which describes the reckless attitude that BC embodies towards those he watches the material. The word "fat" represents a significant emotional charge for the narrator, but it gives rise to an entry with this word, illustrating his emotional insensitivity towards it. The entry is perfunctory and the title is an offensive slur that violates "an unspoken agreement" (186) between the narrator and BC not to mention each other's appearance. Moreover, his ability to condense it and summarize it in an entry gives him directive power over his narrative. Therefore, he uses the dictionary to subjugate the narrator and make him serve as material. His reluctance to understand its complexities reveals that BC uses the DG as a recording of his gaze, manifesting it as a tool of repression. This character of his gaze reflects the way he was viewed by dominant society. This therefore implies that BC has internalized the exploitative gaze of his society and subjects the narrator to it. Therefore, the DG discloses the power play between the characters, portraying BC's writings about the DG as a means of asserting power through his gaze, removing the narrator. However, Shafak does not let the misuse of the DG as a tool of repression negate his authority. It does this by showing that the DG escapes the control of BC. This is seen when instead of simply removing the narrator, the entries possess a desire to both aid his story and distract from it. The DG helps the narrator by expanding the reader's textual understanding in order to strengthen his or her story. An example of this is the entry “Elsa’s eyes” (107) which is defined as “the residue of sadness” (107). When the narrator is physically assaulted and forced to perform oral sex, a cat named Elsa watches. By assigning a deeper meaning to the cat's name, the DG creates a sense of intimacy between reader and narrator, providing us with background knowledge that further contextualizes the act. The result is a deliberate appeal to the reader's sense of empathy for the character. The sadness in the cat's eyes is presented as a pattern that the reader can follow after witnessing the aggression. In doing so, Shafak frees the DG from BC's use of him as a tool of suppression, as he is shown to aid the narrator's narrative and create empathy for his tribulations. However, Shafak says the DG is being objective in presenting it with will. to undermine the narrator. This is done by portraying the entries and the main narrative as being at odds with each other, presenting the entries as interruptions in the linearity and tone of the narrative. This is noted when the narrator attempts suicide and her narrative moves toward her declaration of freedom, "Because I... have at last become a floating balloon" (257), but it is cut off from a dictionary entry titled “extraterrestrial”. These entries fragment the linear structure of the narrative and create an emotionally alienating effect for the reader because it was a constant reminder that they were reading a constructed work of fiction. As such, the reader can never be.