His preconceived notions of blindness gradually start to crumble as he spends more time with Robert and realizes how “normal” he is. As the night wears on the narrator challenges Robert’s blindness in all sorts of ways—drinking, smoking cigarettes dope, and turning on the TV—which leads to their drawing of the cathedral and the narrator’s “awakening.” Carver develops the two main characters in his story to be completely contrasted to each other, in these characters not only does sight and blindness become conflicted with each other but also does the issue of knowledge. Carver uses the narrator to represent an individual who sees but cannot “see” and Robert as one who can “see” but lacks the ability to see. Through the interaction between them, Carver address societies misconception of vision and its connection with knowledge. He brings to the foreground the idea of sight being the handicap rather then blindness. This is illustrated through the narrator’s inability to understand his wife and her “poems” and Roberts ability to do so. Robert’s attitude of “learning never ends” and his ability to fearlessly experience new things such as “dope” and gain new knowledge regardless of his “disability” shows that he is not the one that is disabled (727). Rather it is the hesitance of the narrator that is the handicap and barrier that initially lies between them. Our vision is perceived to be our most trusted sense, as the old saying goes “seeing is believing” thus sight often becomes our proof and our foundation for knowledge. Carver challenges this claim in his story by introducing a character whose vision actually deludes rather then shows him the truth. This deception can be attributed to the general over reliance on our sight to show us the truth. Often times relying too heavily on si...
