Audiotapes In Ernest Hemingway's Short Stories

A blind man named Robert is coming to have dinner and stay overnight. The narrator’s wife worked for him for one summer about ten years earlier. They two became friends and have continued to communicating by using audio tapes. Not only the narrator annoyed with the fact that Robert is visiting but in some ways he is also jealous of the connection that his wife has with Robert. The narrator views Robert’s visit as an inconvenience. The narrator having trouble to entertain Robert. He does not know what he should do or say. Jealous of the former relationship between his wife and Robert, he is suspicious. Robert and the wife of the narrator has been exchanging audiotapes for almost a decade. The audiotapes that Robert and the narrator’s wife send back and forth to each other represent the kind of understanding and compassion that has nothing to do with sight.
When he hears a bit of Robert’s tape, he says it sounds only like “harmless chitchat,” not realizing that this sort of intimate communication is exactly what his own marriage lacks. He knows that his wife has told Robert about him and has probably complained about his faults. This makes him feel guilty, insecure, and somewhat hostile toward both his wife and Robert. Only when the narrator closes his eyes to finish drawing the cathedral does he approach the level of understanding that his wife and Robert have achieved through their taped correspondence. This reveals the extent of his self-delusion and what he believes is what is important in a relationship. He assumes that because he can see, he is more capable of brining joy and happiness to his wife as compared to Robert. But the audiotapes show that there is a huge difference between seeing with one’s eyes and seeing with one’s heart. For the first time he is seeing, rather than