The Cathedral

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man as an individual.
The narrator�s reaction to Robert�s individuality shows his stereotypical views. The narrator assumed Robert did not do certain things, just because he was blind. When he first saw Robert his reaction was simple: "This blind man, feature this, he was wearing a full beard! A beard on a blind man! Too much, I say." When Robert sat down on the couch, he thinks, "I�read somewhere that the blind didn�t smoke because, as speculation had it, they couldn�t see the smoke they exhaled�But this blind man smoked his cigarette down to the nubbin and then lit another one." The narrator�s naivete leaves him amazed by Robert, who does things which the narrator would view as atypical of the blind. This reinforces the idea that the narrator is blind to the reality of the world.

The narrator�s blindness is certainly not limited to Robert � he no better understands the relationship between his wife and the blind man:

They�d become good ...

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talked of things that had happened to them � to them! � these past ten years. I waited in vain to hear my name on my

wife�s sweet lips: "And then my dear husband came into my life"�something like that. But I heard nothing of the sort.

This only reaffirms that once again, the narrator completely misreads the situations in the world around him.

Notwithstanding, the narrator�s emotional blindness can be seen most clearly in his inability to comprehend Robert and Beulah�s relationship. The narrator muses, "They�d married, lived and worked together, slept together�and then the blind man had to bury her. All this without his having ever seen what the ...

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