The use of first-person point of view traps the reader in the mind of a character who is closed-off and narrow-minded throughout the story such that “ telling is nothing, but showing everything (Messer)” at the same time. In this way, the reader retraces with the narrator a series of realizations that convey the message of blindness in correlation with true sight and a spiritual awakening. For example, the narrator can only feel sorry for Robert's wife, Beulah, because he never got to see her. He imagined that Robert's wife “could, if she chose, wear green eye shadow around one eye, a pin in her nostril, yellow pants, and purple shoes” (Mays). However, none of this really bothered Robert, and the narrator finds him absolutely pathetic. However, the narrator never truly understands the fact that he does not truly know his wife, regardless of whether he can physically see her. Furthermore, within the first paragraph, Carver uses demonstratives and possessives to bring the reader closer to the narrator of the story, while at the same time building a psychological distance between the narrator and the other characters in the story (Peterson). In this paragraph, Carver uses the demonstrative “this” as a word to indicate the distance, metaphorically, between the narrator and Robert (Peterson). In particular the phrase "This blind man, an old friend of my wife, was going to spend the night (May 33)" demonstrates the use of this as a specific person whilst showing the distance and dislike the narrator has of Robert. As a result, the narrator's prejudice is presented to the reader in a way that shows his blindness