- "For me there is no more moving spectacle than such a blind man who, with his head erect, seems to be gazing into the far distance. Life's sun has set for the poor fellow, but his inner eye is already striving to glimpse the everlasting radiance that lights his way into a hereafter full of comfort, hope, and joy" (page 394). I found it interesting how the cousin viewed the blind man in the market, since he was clearly comparing him to his own situation. In the story, the cousin used his window as a tool to surveil the market below, trying to revisit the life he once had in any way he could; however, he couldn't help but observe what most related to his current "melancholy". I found it interesting that he could look at this poor, starved, mistreated man and, in a way, find hope. It's like he was using the outward appearance of the blind man to represent how he felt his life was now that he was ill, but if the blind man could have hope, so could he.
- I thought the whole story was a very interesting and different take on physiognomy than the Lavater reading. Instead of solely relying on facial features and outward appearance, the narrator and cousin also observed the peoples' actions, interactions, behaviors, and expressions to craft stories about who they were surveilling. While the things they said about each person were completely fictitious, I wouldn't be surprised if at least one thing about each was true based on the details they gathered before making their stories. I appreciated this take on physiognomy more than Lavater's because it was more focused on the person as a whole.