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How Is This Blind Man's A Name For A Colored Woman

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The narrator in the beginning is not literally blind but might as well have been. He does not understand what it really is like to be blind like his wife's friend Robert. Robert is a friend who is blind and is coming to meet an old friend (the narrators wife) after the blind man's wife had passed. When the narrator starts the story he opens it with "This blind man, an old friend of my wife’s, he was on his way to spend the night." You can already tell right there that he is not interested in what this man has to offer. He thinks just because the man is blind he will not have what a normal human has to offer. You can tell he does not think of Robert as an importance to his life because he never uses his name until he is right in front of him. …show more content…

He says "She’d told me a little about the blind man’s wife. Her name was Beulah. Beulah! That’s a name for a colored woman. “Was his wife a Negro?” I asked." He has no filter or consideration for the women who just passed away. He thinks that the blind man could not see her and is doubting how he knew he liked her, but an aware person would know that love does not mean only looks but personality and intimacy. Which makes the reader understand that he feels the same way about his wife. He does not sincerely care about his wife's feelings, by just saying that Robert is an old friend of the past. But what he is mistaking this man for is his wife's happiness and savior from killing herself again. Robert was the one who stayed by her side while she spent her days and nights alone, and through the divorce. As the blind man hangs out with them more the wife decides to go get ready for bed. "I wished she’d come back downstairs. I didn’t want to be left alone with a blind man." if you could not tell he was already uncomfortable with the blind man he pretty much just comes out and says it right here. He is very uneasy with the thought of being alone with him, he surfs the channels and impatiently waits for his wife to come back …show more content…

When she throws her head back across the couch she falls asleep immediately. The two sit in silence for a while and Robert says "We haven’t had a chance to talk. Know what I mean? I feel like me and her monopolized the evening." while the narrator responds with: " “That’s all right,” I said. Then I said, “I’m glad for the company.” " the two start to watch a television program about cathedrals. The narrator “Something has occurred to me. Do you have any idea what a cathedral is? What they look like, that is? Do you follow me? If somebody says cathedral to you, do you have any notion what they’re talking about? Do you the difference between that and a Baptist church, say?” He rudely waits for an answer. The blind man repeats all the things that the narrator on the television said and continues to state that he does not know what a cathedral actually looks like. Robert asks the narrator to describe what it looks like. He says that he had to imagine someone was treating his life. As the blind man starts to understand the difficulty the narrator is having he says to grab a pen and

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