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  • Essay / How People Perceive Their Sight

    In the two essays “Cathedral” written by Raymond Carver and “Look at Your Fish” by Samuel H. Scudder, they show many themes of sight and how people perceive their sight. Carver's essay features a character named Robert who is blind. There is also a character (called husband) who can see, but cannot see the meaning of what he sees. This means that if he sees a dog-shaped cloud, he will only see a cloud. He sees things as they are and not as they represent. When her husband talks about cathedrals, he says, "They're just things to watch on late-night television" (Carver). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In the essay written by Scudder, there is a student who is the narrator who is asked to examine a fish and understand all the details. Carver's "Cathedral" and Scudder's "Look at Your Fish" essays show that some people neglect their eyesight. What I mean by neglecting their view is that in both essays the narrators are frustrated by it. In Carver's essay, the narrator is frustrated by the arrival of blind Robert. He has all these stereotypes in his head that they wear dark glasses, have a guide dog, have trouble doing everyday things like cutting food, and such. In his own words, the husband said: “…But he didn't use a cane and he didn't wear dark glasses. I always thought that dark glasses were essential for the blind” (Carver). This shows that the husband has difficulty understanding the meaning of things. He struggles to understand that Robert is still capable of functioning as a person and that he didn't give up because he was blind. In Scudder's essay, the narrator gets frustrated looking at the fish after a while. There are many quotes from him about how frustrated he gets looking at this fish for a while, but one of the most important is: “I turned it over and over; I looked him in the face - horrible; from behind, from below, from above, from the side, from three quarters – equally horrible” (Scudder). He also mentions how he counted the scales on the fish's back and even stuck his finger down its throat to see how sharp its teeth were and found it to be completely absurd. Finally the day was over and he had to go home and thought some more about the fish and found the answer to what his teacher was asking. In these two essays they show many themes related to sight and how people understand what they see. In Scudder's essay "Look at Your Fish", the narrator is in a class where his teacher has told him to look at this fish and examine it. for all these details. After a while, he becomes frustrated because he thinks he's seen everything. After sticking his finger down his throat (gross), he decides to try drawing the fish. The teacher praised the narrator for this and said, “It’s true! A pencil is one of the best eyes. I am pleased to note also that you keep your specimen moist and your bottle corked” (Scudder). Carver shows a similar theme in his essay. At the end of the essay, the husband begins to draw a cathedral with Robert. Robert asks her to keep her eyes closed, and her husband replies: “But I had my eyes closed. I was thinking of keeping them like this a little longer. I thought it was something I had to do” (Carver). The husband understood how Robert “sees” the world. These essays show how people can neglect their eyesight and take it for granted. Both narrators of this story are frustrated by the view in one way or another..