Perception

“The Eyes Are Not Here” is a story about perception, both how people perceive each other and how they perceive the world around them. Since the narrator is blind, his perception of his surroundings is different from that of most readers. He must rely on his other senses for information. He smells the girl’s perfume; he hears the sound of her slippers against her feet and the noises the train and its crew and passengers make. With these clues, he understands the world around him—even without the aid of sight.

Yet there is also another way the narrator knows the world: He uses his memory and logic to assist his perception. He was not always blind, so he remembers the scenes he once witnessed in the past. He recalls, for instance, what an October day looks like, and he can “see” it in his mind and describe it beautifully from memory.

The narrator draws on his memories and his knowledge of how the world works to make logical inferences about what is going on around him. He understands, for instance, how parents normally act, so he assumes, likely correctly, that the couple with the girl are her parents. He recalls, too, that there are few animals in the forest these days, so he can confidently tell the girl that.

However, the narrator’s perception, as sharp as it is even without his sight, sometimes fails him. He makes faulty assumptions at times, especially about the girl, and there are things he simply cannot know unless he is told. He wonders, for example, about the girl’s appearance. He also assumes that she does not notice him because she, like other sighted people, fails to see what is in front of her.

This brings up another important point that readers should reflect on. Those who have vision may consider how much of the world they actually perceive, asking themselves what they see and what they notice using their other senses. They might contemplate the memories they use and the inferences they make to help them connect with the world and other people. By locating the narrative in the perspective of a man without vision, Bond asks readers to question how their sight impacts—and maybe even impedes—their perception of the world. 

Identity

“The Eyes Are Not Here” explores the theme of identity, of how people understand themselves and others. The story’s examination of identity begins with its title: The “eyes” literally refer to physical organs of sight but also metaphorically refer to the “I”s of the two characters. Both the narrator and the girl are hiding their identities—their true selves—from each other, suggesting that neither of them is comfortable with themselves.

This is clear in the narrator’s case. One of the first things he tells readers is that he is blind. It bothers him that he cannot see the girl who enters the train compartment, and he seems to not want this young woman to know he is blind. Out of embarrassment or perhaps just a simple longing to be “normal,” he goes to great lengths to hide his blindness, which at this point in his life, is an unavoidable part of who he is as a person. However, it is not a part of his identity he feels willing to share.

The girl also fails to mention her blindness. She, too, speaks and acts as if she were a seeing person. Perhaps she thinks her blindness is evident to the narrator, or perhaps she is tired of being treated differently because of her disability and, like the narrator, just wants to be...