Inman is a soldier in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. After being wounded “fighting outside Petersburg” (4), he wakes up in a military hospital on a hot summer’s day. Weeks have passed since his arrival and his doctors were unsure whether he would survive, as the wound to his neck is very severe. Inman watches through the window. Each day, a blind man passes by to sell newspapers and boiled peanuts to the people at the hospital. Now that Inman has recovered enough to go outside, he hopes to see the man.

When the blind man arrives, Inman talks to him about his loss of sight. The man explains that he was born blind, so there is no way for him to miss his vision. Inman confesses that there are many things that he wishes he had “never seen” (7). The blind man is confused. Inman explains that he saw terrible, brutal things during the war. He fought at the Battle of Fredericksburg, as well as many other places, and he can never forget the horrors that he witnessed. During the battle, Inman and his fellow Confederate soldiers positioned themselves so as to shoot many Federal troops.