The Blind Man – And the blind “will see” The story “The Blind Man” by DH Lawrence can be read on several levels. On the surface, the story is about the struggles of Maurice Pervin as he learns to cope with the loss of his eyesight. On a much deeper level, we see that Maurice is locked in his blindness and it is through the weakness of another that he begins to “see” again. To understand the meaning of “The Blind Man”, we must first try to understand Maurice Pervin. He spent most of his life blind and is totally blind in Flanders. When he returns home, he and his wife Isabel adjust to his new disability. However, this does not affect their marriage. The Pervins have a happy marriage and sometimes feel strengthened by Maurice's loss of sight. For Maurice, “life was still very full and strangely serene for the blind man, peaceful with almost incomprehensible peace and immediate contact in the darkness” (Lawrence 139). He is still able to work on the farm and does not regret being blind. However, sometimes his disability gets the better of him. He falls into bouts of depression. These times put a strain on his marriage and put his safety in jeopardy. To help Isabel cope with her "burden", Maurice tells her to invite her cousin Bertie for a visit. This is a big step for Maurice as he and Bertie have a history of resentment. Maurice comes from a country family. He is passionate and sensitive but slow-witted. Bertie is an intelligent and quick-witted lawyer. Isabel enjoys Bertie's company and this jeopardizes Maurice's security in his marriage. Maurice "hates Bertie Reid, and at the same time he [knows] that hatred [is] nonsense, he [knows] that it [is] the result of his own weakness... middle of paper. ...weakness. He knew he couldn't respond. He had an unreasonable fear that the other man would suddenly destroy him when in reality Maurice was filled with a burning, poignant love, the passion of the. friendship” (151). They return to the house and Isabel can sense the change in both of them. Maurice is a man in his own right and Bertie has lost his security. Both men pretend to be something they are not. By the end of the story, they are both one step closer to becoming the men they truly are. Maurice becomes alive again and “to be alive, to be a living man: that is the essential thing” (“Bright” 134). Through Bertie, the reader sees “a man become a corpse, because of his so-called goodness” (134). Lawrence shows how people influence each other, and sometimes we just need to break down our barriers and reach out to someone. Maurice learns to “see” again thanks to the contact of another man.