As the story continues, the narrator assumes that Robert does not do certain things, just because he is blind. And, the fact that Robert's appearance shows individuality baffled the narrator further; when he first saw Robert, he reacted by saying, "This blind man, feature this, he was wearing a full beard! A beard on a blind man! Too much, I say" (78). When Robert smokes a cigarette, the narrator 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" (79). The narrator is confused and amazed by Robert when Robert does things that the stereotypical "blind man- would not do. 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. The narrator's response to his wife writing a poem about Robert touching her face to get an idea of what she looks like:.
She wrote a poem or two every year, usually after something really important had happened to her. When we first started going out together, she showed me the poem . . . I can remember I didn't think much of the poem . . . Maybe I just don't understand poetry (75).
The narrator has the ability to see that, indeed, his wife and Robert have a very good relationship, and a very important relationship, but he cannot understand why. Under other circumstances, the narrator's wife's descriptions of experiences that summer and Robert's friendship and advice through her marriages might have left him enlightened as to the depth of their relationship. But here, despite all evidence to the contrary, the narrator (ultimately because of his prejudice) has ruled out Robert as a thoughtful, substantial person. He cannot comprehend that a blind man is capable of touching his wife's life.