Color Blind Painter Paradox

A paradox is a statement containing conflicting idea and it contradicts itself. It defies reason and is the opposite. Have you ever wonder what it means to adapt? Adapt means to adjust to changes whether you want to or not. Believe it or not as human being we adapt to changes every day whether big or small and noticeable or not. Your brain and nervous system creates new pathways so you can survive from tragic events every day.
In “The Case of the Color Blind Painter” a man named Mr. I suffered a strange and total loss of color in his vision due to a car accident. He suffered a concussion. He was an abstract expressionist artist and remembered colors but couldn’t see it. Everything he sees is black and gray. But to Mr. I as a painter he sees

different shade between the two colors. He had to adapt to his new disability. His night vision was clear and he started to paint just black and white paintings. After adjusting to the new changes he couldn’t picture a life without black and white. He already forgot about the colors.
In the case “To See and Not See” a guy name Virgil who was basically blind all his life since a young age has gained his vision back at age fifty five. He had poor vision to begin with and due to suffering of illnesses he developed cataract in both his eyes. Despite not being able to see, he lived a normal life like everybody else. He underwent eye operation before marriage and suddenly regained some vision. He could only see blurry object and in order to distinguish the objects he had to rely on other senses to help him. After adapting to the conditions, he was sick again due to his illness and lost his visions again.
In my opinion, I feel like Mr. I adapted better to his change in sight because even though he lost his vision as a painter he accepted the facts that he couldn’t see. He couldn’t see colors as he use to but he still had options. He wasn’t completely blind; he can still see black and white and other shades in between. His career was not really interrupted that abruptly. He started painting black and white picture and can’t imagine a world without black and gray. He forgot the world with colors. He was more acknowledged and successful as an artist with his disability. He used it to his advantage and continued his career.
Virgil in the underhand underwent so much twist and turns in his life.

Being ill and blind since birth he lived a life as a normal person. He didn’t mind the fact that he couldn’t see because he started his young childhood not being able to see. He was comfortable in his environment, he was already successful. He had a job, house and wife .Then after living a good amount of his lifetime being blind he suddenly develops his vision back is a big change. It wasn’t like he could completely see, he had to use his other senses to help him distinguish object because his vision wasn’t clear. He was like an infant developing into this new world all over again. He had to relearn everything from scratch. The fact he had to readapt again when he got ill and appeared to be blind again.
I believe these two stories from “An Anthropologist on Mars” by Oliver Sacks are paradoxes because these incidents have occurred even though it seems impossible. These two tales “The Case of the Colorblind Painter” and “To See and Not See” are based on real events was undertaking careful researches and studies. Both characters went through extreme scenarios and adapt life changes. They can’t live in the past because life would move on without them whether they like it or not. So they both accepted the situation and moved

forward.