A weakness does not make a man weak. It is the man who chooses to allow a weakness to make him weak. Faced with two different dispositions, the characters Robert from Cathedral and Prufrock from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock face life's obstacles with two different approaches. Robert, born blind, does not let his inability to see stop him from seeing the world. His blindness actually allows him to “see” and understand people better than if he did not have a visual impairment. On the other hand, Prufrock was born without any physical abilities, but he allows his small frame full of insecurities to make him a weaker man. He doesn't have the strength to endure the outside world because he is stuck in a pitiful and contemptuous world. Robert is a strong man who does not allow his visual impairment to stop him from having a real life. The narrator tells us that he works for a social security service. The fact that Robert has a job like this allows the reader to see that he is a hard worker. When the narrator listens to his wife and Robert catch up, he learns that Robert has done a lot in his life. This is discussed when the narrator recapitulates: “Robert had done a little bit of everything, it seemed, a true blind jack of all trades. » (Page 83) His handicap does not prevent him from succeeding. Robert needs more help than others in his position. He needed to hire someone to read his cases for him, which is how he meets the narrator's wife. Robert appreciated everything the narrator's wife did for him and built a relationship with the narrator's wife. This is established when the narrator says, “They became good friends, my wife and the blind man” (page 77). Formula... middle of paper ... tries to sing songs to him and lure him in like they would a brave sailor. He knows that in his life he is like a Shakespearean fool. A man who thinks too much and his presence are hardly welcome. His loathsome thoughts leave him unable to face the world or even open up and allow himself to see the world as it really is. He simply ends up paralyzed by his own thoughts, unable to attend a social event because he judges himself unworthy. The power of the mind can create a hero or slowly kill a man from the inside, and it is up to the individual to choose. the direction of the mind. Works Cited Carver, Raymond. Cathedral: Stories. New York: Knopf, 1983. Print.Elliot, TS “TS Eliot: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” Washington State University - Pullman, Washington. Internet. March 29. 2011. .