Impression

Like a footprint pressed into the sand, where there is an impression, something remains in presence by virtue of its mark, as if it were the very essence of the thing. Thus, there are good impressions, false impressions—frightening, awkward, and ridiculous impressions—all sorts of impressions that persist as traces of the people, locations, or events they represent. Nothing can present all facets and perspectives of itself at once; even a dot on a page looks completely different under a microscope. Thus, we have only limited knowledge of things, only impressions to go by. As Ginsberg famously said, “America, this is the impression I get from looking in the television set.”

With respect to persons, this is also true. Others cannot know everything about who a person is; they cannot even know this of themselves. Nevertheless, they often take up momentary impressions, as if this solves the puzzle of the other person.

Common expressions such as “first impressions last,” and “be sure to make a good impression” exist because where first impressions succeed, they persist, and where they fail, it is hard to recover from them. For example, Mr. Darcy of Pride and Prejudice, originally titled First Impressions, initially seemed “the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world.”

Self-consciousness arises when individuals realize that others will and do form impressions of [Page 500]them. In the work of Jean-Paul Sartre, being gathered as an impression in the eyes of another is referred to as subjection to “the look,” and an intention to perform an impression for others, a cliché of oneself, is referred to as “bad faith.” It is a tendency well illustrated in the movie Annie Hall, when subtitles reveal the impression anxieties of Alvy and Annie as they speak to each other.