“Learning never ends.” (274)
I agree that we are constantly acquiring new information and that this process endless. Because we only live for a certain amount of time and that life must come to an end, we cannot say we know everything. The brain does not have that kind of capacity to store every single detail of life. Our curiosity also causes us to want to know more. There are many questions such as “What is the purpose of life” and “Are there more life forms out in the galaxy” that are still left unanswered. It is a natural instinct to think about these questions and find ways to answer them in which we must acquire certain knowledge for.
“My dear, I have two TVs. I have a color set and a black-and-white thing, an old relic. It’s funny, but if I turn the TV on, and I’m always turning it on, I turn on the color set.” (272)
I thought this quote was very interesting and had a symbolic meaning to it. I assumed that this story had to have taken place during a time when segregation was still legal because the narrator asked if the blind man’s wife was a Negro. The blind man had two different types of TV sets and he would always turn on the color one. I thought that this might have had a connection with the idea that the blind man did not see the world in a black and white perspective but instead saw it as a mix of different colors. Of course I agree with the blind man’s view and that the world is meant to be seen in many different colors and not just black and white.
The questions I will ask will be pretty much based on the quotes I have just presented. Do you think that acquiring knowledge will ever have a stop to it?(As in will we, as humans, ever be able to answer every question in life?) I am also interested in what you think of the second quote. Do you think there is another meaning behind this particular quote with the two different TV sets?
First off, I’d like to say that I definitely agree with your opinion on the quotes you chose. I think you chose two quotes that I believe stood out and made a significant point not only in the story, but such a point that we can apply to ourselves as well.
The first quote about how learning does not end is something I certainly agree with. When you think about it, if learning was to end then there would be no reason for anyone to question anything because we assume that we know everything, which is obviously something that is impossible. When I read your response, your explanation reminded me of Aristotle and his belief of how contemplation is one of the main keys to happiness. I’m not sure I may agree that contemplation is the key to happiness, but one thing I can sure agree to is that every person contemplates, whether its for the search of happiness or not. It may not take up our whole day, as it does to the wise men Aristotle refers to as being the happiest, but it is a certainty that at least 50 times in less than a month we will question something, and as we question, we may or may not receive answers because humanity is yet to keep developing and we do not know for a fact what society or our environment will be like the next day, better yet the next years.
For the second quote, I feel as if you took the words straight out of my mouth. Your interpretation of it is the same as I thought when I read the lines. This quote serves as a reflection of the difference between sensation and perception. The fact that a blind man literally “sees” everything black, does not necessarily mean that he perceives everything to be black. Although his sense of sight is limited to only black, the knowledge he acquires about his environment influences his perception, changing everything from black to orange or red or blue.
With this said, I leave this question open: Who do you believe is the happier person, the man with the perfect eye sight who can literally see everything around him, or the blind man who is left with the task of always trying to put pieces together and create images in their minds that their eyes have never seen before?
ASTRID CUAS