The world can be perceived in many different ways. The blind, the deaf, children, adults, teenagers, parents, all "see" the world in a different way. It is an author's job to convey how he "sees" the world to his readers. Oliver Sacks does this quite well. Through his use of analogies and other rhetorical strategies, Oliver Sacks greatly enhances the reader's view of a newly sighted man's life and in turn, the reader's view of the world.
             In the beginning of "To See and Not See," by Oliver Sacks, the reader is introduced to the subject of the essay, a fifty-year-old man named Virgil, who has been blind from early childhood. Virgil, at the urging of his fiancée, submits himself to a surgery that will help him regain his sight. When Sacks hears about Virgil's case, he is immediately interested and wants to fly to Oklahoma to meet Virgil as soon as possible. Sacks had read of a few other cases, such as Valvo's patient H.S. and Gregory's patient S.B., in which the subjects had a great deal of difficulty adjusting from the world of the blind to the world of sighted. It is Sacks' intent to visit Virgil and "not just test Virgil, but to see how he managed in real life, inside his house, outside, in natural settings, and social situations" (116). By studying this man and his journey into the world of the sighted, Sacks hopes to determine whether sight is a learned or innate trait. When Sacks first steps off the p!
             lane, he begins observing Virgil, describing him as being "of medium height, but exceedingly fat" (116). Sacks is then taken to Virgil and Amy's house where Sacks watches as Virgil "caneless, walked by himself up to the front door, pulled out his key, grasped the doorknob, unlocked the door, and opened it" (Sacks 120). It was only later that Virgil explained that this feat was his "showpiece." ...