JOURNAL TWO

As I was reading, the first time I was really hit by something was when the narrator, or the current husband, switched from referring to the blind man as the blind man and instead called him by his real name, Robert. I realized almost instantly that this was because that, up until that point on page 274, the man had only felt hatred and distaste for his wives blind friend, but as he is going over what the poor man is experiencing and has experienced in his marriage, he begins to feel sorrow and pity for the man. The narrator falls into this ramble of how awful and pathetic it must have been for this man to never be able to know what his wife looked like, and how terrible it must have been to never be able to pay her any compliments. After this one moment, however, the narrator returns to referring to the man as the blind man. I found that particularly odd, though I suppose it could be because of the way that Robert affects his wives behaviour, as the familiarity may make him uncomfortable. He then mentions the blind man’s name again at the very bottom of page 276 after he surprises him by smoking two cigarettes, as he thought blind people did not smoke. Then he begins to use the blind man’s name more frequently at that point, as if warming up to him. At the end of the story, he seems to reach full acceptance of the blind man, as he “looks” at the drawing of the cathedral (with his eyes closed) and says it looks great, as if finally understanding how this blind man lives entirely.