The perception of image-G is similar to that of visual pattern in several aspects. “As the theory of forms has demonstrated, the object is given to us as a totality which signifies through its sensuous aspects, and in such a way that each sensuous aspect is organized around this totality without any individual aspect's becoming privileged" . This is the case both in the perception of forms and other subjects. Just as lines, colours in painting make a pattern or figure outstanding, and grammatical items make structures distinguishable, the interrelationship in actions and events constitute image-G in literary texts. Humans are endowed and developed with structuration competence, the ability to produce or interpret a text in its coherent gestalt, that is, to represent in his mind an overall picture of the object he perceives, whether that of a physícal object or an abstract idea. It is an autonomous reaction. Structuration competence according to de Beaugrande subsumes the ability to combining words such that their potential meanings are coordinated and smoothly reduced to a sequence of coherent actual meanings. Even if non-ordinary language and non-expected use prevail in literary texts, readers can apply the information derivable from expected items to interpretation of the non-expected items. Another similarity lies in that a special effort is needed in order to give a certain aspect a privileged position, to make it the center of reference for perception, for as soon as individual items are placed in larger groups, the items tend to be forgotten.

Notwithstanding the similar structuration, the perception of the image differs to some extent from that of a visual pattern. For image-G in literary texts, elements that contribute to thematic coherence are displaced, disguised, or even omitted altogether. The writer tends to create additional effects with the message beyond that of simple information transmission, such as emotional, impressionistic, or aesthetic effects. Whatever the underlying information in tbe text may be, both that information and its presentation have been made more complex and circuitous by the modification of the language. Images constituted are not structuration of linguistic items, albeit their necessary application, ratber the formulation of messages conveyed by linguistic items yet going beyond them. The modification of the language often serves to heighten the undefinedness of the text, that is, to withhold information that must be supplied by the reader. Therefore, rather than relying only on intuition or memory, the translator-reader should gather data systematically, for relevant items may not occur in clearly determinate contexts: the information needed to interpret them may be scattered throughout the text.

In a word, the figure stimulates direct response, while the image, due to its emotional aspects, stimulates operative response. And this is one of the important reasons that make translations of a same version different.

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