A Man Who Had No Eyes Critical Lens Essay

Telling a lie and being caught in the act are two different things, the same as using your past to excuse your present and using your past to move forward in the present. MacKinlay Kantor’s “A Man Who Had No Eyes” tells the story of two people who have used their disability in contrasting ways. Mr Markwardt used his disability as an excuse for his fiendish scummy behavior. Greed, lust and envy are the ideals that make up Mr. Markward’s personality, this fuels him to blame everything on the world and to coerce pity out of others. Mr. Parson however uses his disability to grow, it gives him a drive to help others that are in the same situation that he was in. He used it to grow successful and to help others contrasting with Mr. Markwardt. Mr. Markwardt was shown to be a blind beggar making his wage by working at the beginning of the story “he had something to sell,” he seemed honest until the story started to progress. This was when his true colors started to peel back from the gentle facade that was built up. He started probing at the pockets of Mr. Parson, with the intent to pocket more money from him. In the end when his lies are revealed he again uses his blindness and his misery as an excuse towards his behavior. He complains how

Parson even at the beginning of the story is shown to be a gentle, caring and thoughtful man. When he was coerced into buying the lighter for double price all he thought about was who to give it to. Thinking about those around him and how he could help others. Even as he was forced to hear the sob story of a person who genuinely took his eyesight he remained calm and entertained the idea. He made no outlandish claims, he did not resort to violence and was civilized. His past must have been traumatic as the poison smothered him, but even after falling, losing everything he was able to rebound and help those that needed it, those that were not able to pay, he insured them that was what he sold and that was how he became