and his uncouth demeanor are results from the way he lives and sees life: on a mere surface
level. There is a clear tension when his wife’s blind friend enters the picture, as the narrator
seems rather jealous of this man, even though he doesn’t admit it. The narrator’s rudeness, which
can otherwise be explained as blunt honesty, stresses his detachment from life as he is unable to
communicate properly and as a result, he spends most of his time in isolation, completely
unaware of the world around him. His loneliness is what makes him extremely close minded, as
he jumps to assumptions swiftly, which is quite evident in his pre-conceived notions of
blindness, i.e. “But he [the blind man] didn’t use a cane and he didn’t wear dark glasses. I’d
always thought dark glasses were a must for the blind” (p. 5). He degrades people who are blind
and clearly distinguishes them from the normal people, and this can be noted when he genuinely
feels sorry for the blind man’s dead wife, indicating that the man’s blindness stopped him from
fully appreciating her. This is actually quite ironic, because the blind man probably appreciated
his wife more than the narrator ever could. The narrator treats his wife quite insensitively,
deliberately angering her on more than one occasion. Thus, the narrator’s insolent behavior is
what he puts out into the world, and it is his absolute close mindedness, which emphasizes that
he is figuratively blind to most aspects of life. Throughout the story, it is clear that the narrator is
a great observer since he describes almost every little detail he sees, such as what the blind man
looks like head to toe and how the blind man eats his food. When the blind man asked the
narrator to describe a cathedral, the narrator described cathedrals as quite tall and massive and
that “they’re built of stone” (p. 11). It is clear that all of the terms used by the narrator to describe
the cathedral are incredibly vague and whoever listens to his description wouldn’t be able to
picture anything close to a cathedral. All the intricate little details are left out, because he doesn’t
look closely and he doesn’t attempt to see what is beyond the surface. This may be because he
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