Analysis Of Two Kinds Short Story

In the beginning the narrator is un-named, we read the story as thoughts within his mind. His actions gives-off a sense of jealousy. He’s bothered by the former relationship the blind-man and his wife has had in the past. He is blunt and honest with (us) in telling how he feels about the situation. “I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me.” “A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to.” The narrator gives us the introduction to the life event. He tells us about his wife and how she met the blind-man. In short, she formally worked for him, reading him things when she lived in Seattle for a summer. The narrator mentioned when the blind-man touched around his wife face and her current marriage with her childhood sweetheart. Her husband at the time was in the military –industry, which caused her to have to move a lot. She and the blind-man kept in touch by sending voice recorded

In the narrative, the author writes the story in first person point of view through an unnamed narrator which enables the reader to visualize, experience, and perceive a deeper insight into his mind. The story commences with the narrator speaking directly to the audience appearing closed-off and narrow-minded. His wife has an old friend named Robert, who happens to be blind, coming to spend the night. Right away, the reader can sense how the narrator comes off as self-absorbed. He`s only concerned about how Robert’s visit will affect him and is inconsiderate about the strong bond Robert and his wife have built over the years. The narrator also lacks self-awareness when he found himself thinking “what a pitiful life this woman must have led.” (Carver 3) The woman being Beulah, Robert`s recently deceased wife, who the narrator belittled as she married a blind man and now she “could never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one.” (Carver 3) Not realizing that with

In the beginning, the narrator was reluctant to allow the blind man to come to his house. The narrator’s perception about the blind man comes from the movies he saw, and this preconception influences the narrator’s contempt of the blind man in his house. For instance, the narrator says in the story that, “I was not

Source: CAPPELEN DAMM AS, Oslo 2008 – ''Access to English literature, VG3''. Anthony, Burgess, Mikkelsen & Sørhus. Chapter 1, page 23-24.

Immediately, the narrator reveals his narrow mindedness when faced with Robert, the blind man. Preconceived judgemental comments are mentioned moments after the initial meeting, as the narrator refuses to refer to the man by his name, instead only acknowledging him as “the blind man”. He recalls a moment when the blind man touched his wife’s face, not fully understanding the importance of such action, only classifying it as unusually strange. The narrator then reveals that he has “never met or personally known, anyone who was blind”, offering an insight into an explanation for his behaviour.

If a blind person walked into the room, I would expect to see someone who looked feeble, wore dark glasses, used a cane, and potentially had a guide dog. The narrator of this story had similar preconceptions about the blind. Some of these preconceptions were that “the blind move slowly and never laugh”, “sometimes [the blind are] led by seeing-eye dogs”, the blind man’s life and marriage were unfulfilling because he was unable not see, and others that had to do with physical appearance and mannerisms. This blind man though breaks these stereotypes and much more. Conventional ideas about the blind are broken because of the way he was portrayed and helped to teach the narrator a lesson.

The theme of this story plays a strong role of physical and psychological blindness. The narrator has sight and is not blind. But it seems as if the narrator is blinded by his own personality. He is too quick to judge a blind man who he has not even met yet but judge a blind man because of what he saw on television. Bub, the narrator says, “"And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing dogs-eye dogs." (Carver 299). It is also seen that Robert always refers the man as “the blind man” rather than Robert. The narrator sees him not as human-like because of his disability. The author lets the audience know that even though a man may

In addition the narrator has a few prejudice thoughts about the blind man prior to his arrival, but they appear to change as the story evolves. The narrator is not afraid in voicing his

His lack of understanding towards the blind man is aptly demonstrated when he states “My idea of blindness came from the movies.” (1.1) This quote stands to show not only the narrator’s lack of understanding of blindness, but also the shallowness of his overall understanding of the world. Despite the narrator’s unhappiness, his wife continues to persist. The narrator eventually ceases to complain and gives in, awaiting Robert’s arrival. Upon his arrival, the narrator falls much more silent and cynical, due to his envy and lack of connection with the man. This lack of connection is also often shown between the narrator and his wife, however it seems to the narrator that Robert and the narrator’s wife are deeply connected, making him all the more

In this story, the blind man is the one who can truly "see", or who really understands how life can be beautiful, meaningful, and happy, whereas the narrator is the one who is "blind" to those things.  The narrator spends the entire time moaning and groaning about life, his wife, the blind man, and his station in life, and it isn't until the very end, when he closes his eyes and guides the blind man's hands, that he truly sees and feels a profound experience that makes him grateful and happy.  The narrator, a very sarcastic and bitter man, feels, as he closes his eyes to attempt to draw a cathedral for a blind man, that "it was like nothing else in my life up to now."  That's a pretty strong statement for him, considering how negative he's

The story starts with the narrator telling a story about the blind man, who was the old friend of his wife. He is coming to spend the night but he does not seem to be happy with the blind mans’ visit. The narrator looks at the blind man cruelly. The narrator has different points of

The blind man and the narrator differ on their views of the world. The blind man takes advantage of life by making friends and learning new things. The narrator sees the world superficially. He does not find deeper meanings in life and values appearances over lessons. Towards the end that changes. Once the narrator views a picture from the blind visitor’s perspective, he sees the world in a new way. “My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside

place nearly forty years apart. After a second read, however, it was easy to notice a distant

Short stories can share themes, motifs, symbols, consequences, and plot lines, even if there is never any intention to share a common element between the stories. The stories can be written close together or in different decades and still be linked to the one another. They can also be worlds apart with different meanings in the end, but that does not stop them from having similar ideas expressed within them. The following three stories, “Lagoon” by Joseph Conrad, “The Rocking Horse Winner” by DH Lawrence, and “The Lady in the Looking Glass” by Virginia Woolf, are three totally different stories that share common threads that make them the stories that they are.

Are you ready to analyze three stories? Yes? Awesome! No? Too bad, because here we go! The three stories in question are The Leap by Louise Erdrich, The Contents of a Dead Man’s Pockets by Jack Finney, and Ambush by Tim O’Brien. The authors of these stories use aspects of their stories to shape the plot, show the theme, and to change the views and opinions of the characters in the stories.