Elaine Scarry

The author and sometimes-narrator of On Beauty and Being Just, Elaine Scarry's voice dominates this often philosophical argument. She presents herself as an objective judge of beauty; however, she often uses personal anecdotes to make her point. She recounts her own experiences of mis-judging beautiful objects, such as the first time she realized that a palm tree is a beautiful object, as well as her own life experiences, such as when she described the book in progress to a philosopher friend of hers, recording his reactions. In addition, she often uses her friends', colleagues, and students' opinions and experiences as the basis for her reflections: she writes that most of those she surveyed, people close to her, admitted that they had made a mistake in judging beauty at one time or another. In addition, towards the end of the book, she notes that, similarly, most people who...