Forms<\/strong><\/p>\nblind, blindly, blinder<\/p>\n
Related Terms<\/strong><\/p>\nCurious<\/p>\n
Glass<\/p>\n
Limp<\/p>\n
Shell<\/p>\n
Explication<\/strong><\/p>\nBlind,<\/strong> and the ways in which the word relates to sight and the prevention of seeing, serves a few main purposes throughout\u00a0Ulysses<\/em>, mostly surrounding the function of sight. The first comes in the noun form of the word\u2014an item that blocks out light or causes individuals to lose the ability to see. Throughout the novel, the image of a blind<\/strong> often comes up with reference to a character\u2019s proximity to a window and the purpose it does or does not serve. One of the first interactions readers witness between Leopold Bloom and his wife, Molly, involves an inquiry about a physical\u00a0blind<\/strong>: \u201c\u2014Do you want the\u00a0blind <\/strong>up? \/ Letting the\u00a0blind<\/strong>\u00a0up by gentle tugs\u2026\u201d (U. 4.255-256). In this sense, the object of a\u00a0blind<\/strong>\u00a0operates a noun with a specific purpose: to prevent a certain capability (sight or light) from occurring.<\/p>\nThe ways in which blind <\/strong>insinuates the prevention of sight and inability to see is a trend continued by the repetitive use of the adjective form of the word as well. Blind<\/strong>\u00a0as an illustrative adjective reoccurs throughout the novel, often used to describe historical figures (i.e. \u201cold\u00a0blind<\/strong>\u00a0Abraham\u201d U. 5.201), as well as recurring characters (refer to U. 8.1075). As expected, this form of blind <\/strong>depicts images of those who cannot see. Throughout the novel this form is used to both describe characters that are actually incapable of sight, or simply those who show attributes that would label them as such (i.e. obliviousness). This less literal version of\u00a0blind<\/strong>\u00a0as an adjective comes about to describe a certain type of belief that appears at different moments throughout Ulysses. <\/em>Because it is a novel filled with (often ironic) religious imagery, Joyce\u2019s word choice of \u201cblind<\/strong>\u00a0faith\u201d (U. 5. 377) must be evaluated with this tone in mind. In this way,\u00a0blind<\/strong>\u00a0comes up as a description of those who take comforts in religion without any worry or deeper understanding, a concept complicated throughout\u00a0Ulysses.<\/em><\/p>\nThe recurrent usage of the word blind <\/strong>persists as an involuntary situation of sorts when considering the use of the word as a verb. Although sparsely used throughout the novel,\u00a0blind<\/strong>\u00a0as a verb does come up to convey the action of causing a state characterized by the inability to see. Such a use seems to illuminate not only the repetition of the unfortunate state, but also the more harsh connotations that can come along with it. The first time the verb form of\u00a0blind<\/strong>\u00a0occurs is in reference to both an animal, and not actually carrying out the action: \u201cit wouldn\u2019t\u00a0blind<\/strong>\u00a0him\u201d (U. 12. 700). Although this portrays an occurrence in which the verb wouldn\u2019t actually happen, the repetitive use of the word throughout\u00a0Ulysses<\/em>\u00a0makes such an instance stand out. The novel spends much time depicting characters (and animals) with reference to their ability to see, and their awareness of the space in which they inhabit. By reusing the word in its various forms, blind <\/strong>appears to describe multiple conditions characterized by lack of an attribute.<\/p>\nDefinitions and\u00a0Examples<\/strong><\/p>\n\n- Blind, n.
\n<\/strong>I. Anything which obstructs the light or sight. (OED 1).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- \u201cLetting the blind<\/strong> up by gentle tugs halfway\u201d (U. 4.256)<\/li>\n
- \u201cThe gay sweet chirping whistling within went on a bar or two, ceased. The\u00a0blind<\/strong>of the window was drawn aside.\u201d (U. 10.249-250)\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n
- \u201cMiss Douce\u2019s brave eyes, unregarded, turned from the crossblind <\/strong>smitten by sunlight. Gone. Pensive (who knows?), smitten (the smiting light), she lowered the drop blind<\/strong>with a sliding cord.\u201d (U. 11.460-462)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
II. spec<\/strong>. A screen for a window, made of woven material mounted on a roller, of wire gauze,etc.; used to prevent the entrance of too much light, or to keep people from seeing in. Venetian blinds<\/strong>n.<\/em>\u00a0those made of light laths fixed on strips of webbing. (OED 2)<\/p>\n\n- \u201cHe passed an arm through the armstrap and looked seriously from the open carriagewindow at the lowered\u00a0blinds<\/strong>of the avenue\u201d (U. 6.10-12)<\/li>\n
- \u201cThe room in the hotel with hunting pictures. Stuffy it was. Sunlight through the slats of the Venetian\u00a0blind<\/strong>\u201d (U. 6.360-361)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Special Uses:<\/strong> blind faith.<\/strong>\u00a0belief or confidence (in<\/em>\u00a0a person or thing) without any evidence or proof. (OED)<\/p>\n\n- Blind faith. Safe in the arms of kingdom come. Lulls all pain. Wake this time next year. (U. 5.377-378)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- Blind, adj. (and adv.)<\/strong>.
\nI. Literal
\na.<\/strong> Destitute of the sense of sight, whether by natural defect or by deprivation (OED 1.a).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- \u201cThe scene he was always talking about where the old\u00a0blind<\/strong>Abraham recognises the voice and puts his fingers on his face\u201d (U. 5.201-202)\u00b7<\/li>\n
- \u201cA\u00a0blind<\/strong>stripling stood tapping the curbstone with his slender cane. No tram in sight. Wants to cross. \u2013Do you want to cross? Mr Bloom asked. The\u00a0blind<\/strong>\u00a0stripling did not answer. His wallface frowned weakly. He moved his head uncertainly.\u201d (U. 8.1075-1079)<\/li>\n
- \u201cYou\u2019re blind<\/strong>er<\/em> nor I am, you bitch\u2019s bastard!\u201d (U. 1119-1120)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
i.\u00a0to go it blind<\/em><\/strong>: to act without previous investigation of the circumstances; to plunge without regard to the risks involved.<\/p>\n\n- \u201cPhew! Dreadful simply! Child\u2019s head too big: forceps. Doubled up inside her trying to butt its way out\u00a0blind<\/strong>ly<\/em>, groping for the way out.\u201d (U. 8.374-376)\u00b7\n
d.<\/strong>\u00a0absol.<\/em>\u00a0A blind person, esp. as\u00a0pl.<\/em>\u00a0Those who are blind, as a section of the community. (OED 1.d)<\/p>\n\u00b7 \u201cthey did divers wonders such as casting out devils, raising the dead to life, multiplying fishes, healing the halt and the blind, discovering various articles which had been mislaid, interpreting and fulfilling the scriptures, blessing and prophesying\u201d (U. 12.1723-1726)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
IV. Combinations
\n<\/strong>15. General, as blind-born, blind-drunk<\/em> (Sc. blin\u2019-fou)<\/em>, so intoxicated as to see no better than a blind man (OED IV.15)<\/p>\n\n- \u201cI had to laugh at the way he came out with that about the old one with the winkers on her, blind drunk in her royal palace every night of God\u201d (U. 12.1393-1394)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- Blind, v.
\n<\/strong>I. trans. <\/strong>To make blind, deprive of sight (OED 1).
\na. permanently<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n- \u201cI\u2019d train him by kindness, so I would, if he was my dog. Give him a rousing fine kick now and again where it wouldn\u2019t\u00a0blind<\/strong>\u201d (U. 12.698-700)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Related Topics<\/strong><\/p>\nScience, Thought and Action, Ability, Medicine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
**due to formatting issues, I’ve also attached a word document to this blog post. final-%22blind%22-lexicon-lrw Forms blind, blindly, blinder Related Terms Curious Glass Limp Shell Explication Blind, and the ways in which the word relates to sight and the prevention of seeing, serves a few main purposes throughout\u00a0Ulysses, mostly surrounding the function of sight. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=612"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":614,"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612\/revisions\/614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}