‘Never thought anything like this could happen in your lifetime, did you, bub? Well, it’s a strange life, we all know that. Go on now. Keep it up.’
Robert coaches the husband, takes control
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The truth is, cathedrals don’t mean anything special to me. Nothing. Cathedrals. They’re something to look at on late-night TV. That’s all they are.’
In the end, Robert shows him that there is something special in Cathedrals, which leads him to the mindset that everything, no matter how dull it may seem, has something special to offer.
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Sometimes the cathedrals have devils and such carved into the front. Sometimes lords and ladies. Don’t ask me why this is,
The cathedrals have all kinds of figures and people, ties into message of inclusion
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But say my life depended on it. Say my life being threatened by an insane guy who said I had to do it or else.
The husband believes that if he shows Robert the cathedral he'll be a martyr, pities him
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The men who began their life’s work on them, they never lived to see the completion of their work. In that wise, bub, they’re no different from the rest of us, right?’
Relates to the message of the story, that those who are disabled are just as human as those who are nondisabled
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‘Bub
Robert calls the husband "bub" like he is a mentor to the husband, takes power in the conversation
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‘I do now, my dear. There’s a first time for everything. But I don’t feel anything yet.’
Robert is almost like a fatherly figure in the wife's life, she takes care of him like he's her elderly father.
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But I heard nothing of the sort. More talk of Robert
The husband is ashamed that he feels jealous of Robert because he doesn't view him as capable.
Starts to refer to him as Robert in this point because he takes up more of a presence in the husbands life
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We didn’t talk. We ate. We scarfed. We grazed that table. We were into serious eating.
Emphasizes eating in this section as it avoids from conversation the husband isn't eager to have with Robert, gives him a break from socialization
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But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything.
The husband finally looks outside of his own narrow view of the world and begins to view the world in an open perspective.
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All this without his having ever seen what the goddamned woman looked like.
Sees disabled individuals as helpless and incapable of living a "normal" life, relies on his implicit bias and harmful stereotypes in shaping the world around him.
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‘Was his wife a negro?’ I asked.
The husband's language in here reflects the racist language commonly used in the 80's when this piece was written.
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I heard my own name in the mouth of this stranger, this blind man I didn’t even know! And then this: ‘From all you’ve said about him, I can only conclude – ’ But we were interrupted, a knock at the door, something, and we didn’t ever get back to the tape. Maybe it was just as well. I’d heard all I wanted to.
Is not open to other experiences, has a narrow view of the world
Shows hostility by repeatedly calling the blind man "blind man" and "stranger" rather than his actual name.
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How do I know these things?
The fact that the husband asks this question shows that he believes others would be skeptical of his wife's friendship with the blind man.
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He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me
You can really see the husband's bias in this line. He views himself as above this blind man since he is nondisabled.
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