Because the story did have a threatening tone, and a suspenseful plot, it got my attention from the opening paragraph. The story opens up with a couple conversing about a friend of the wife’s coming to visit. Robert, the wife’s friend, is blind and has not seen her in roughly ten years. As the reader, you get the sense that maybe in the past, the wife and Robert had some sort of altercation. The assumption of this, is what made the wife’s husband uneasy about Robert’s stay. He even says, “A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward too.” The husband clearly does not think before he speaks. I put myself in his shoes, and I understand if my husband invited a random woman over to stay at our house. But he was wrong to react the way he did, and approach Robert the way he did. He should of acted in a mature, respectful manner, not a foolish, inconsiderate one.
Throughout the short story, Raymond Carver does a phenomenal job at keeping the reader interested. In fact, after reading the short story, all I wanted to do was read more. For the most part the narrator sounds irritated, and sometimes hostile. Knowing how bothered the narrator is by Robert’s blindness I made an immediate connection to Aylmer in “The Birth-mark”. It was interesting to see that the things that bothered these two men the most, were things that were uncontrollable. You can’t control whether or not you will be born with a birthmark despite the size and shape. Similarly, it is fair to say that people who are born blind, do not chose that fate. In fact they are born with a disability that should never be questioned or ridiculed. Another similarity between Aylmer and the husband or narrator is although they seem relaxed as the stories progress; they both still challenge the imperfections of others. When the husband asks Robert to turn on the TV, clearly he is looking to test him.
If Robert hadn’t helped the husband draw the cathedral, I probably would have lost all hope for the husband. Before this, I saw him as a hostile, argumentative, disrespectful person. This experience helped him learn about not only himself, but communicating with someone who earlier believed, was incapable of anything.
Out of all the short stories we have read this semester, this one seemed to intrigue me the most. I liked the fact that at the end of the story, he learned something from someone who he believed was inferior to him. That interested me the most. There are too many people out there who believe they are better than everyone, and capitalize on others flaws, instead of reaching out and in the end, ultimately bettering themselves.
