Why can't Roland see TV?

[ola]

I was pondering this today, to the point that I wanted to create a thread. :lol:

So...are his eyes so good it interferes with watching moving frames? I thought he could see what was on the security screens at the Dogan OK.

No matter what, I thought it was an inspired detail that made sense to me at the time, just not sure why exactly..

[Letti]

Or maybe his eyes just can't get used to it. There are people who can't watch TV because they get a headache. It might be the same with Roland.
Anyway I don't remember well.. he doesn't see it at all or he just can't watch it?

[overhoser]

For some reason, I don't remember this at all. Do you happen to have the passage handy that says this?

Was Roland ever in the Dogan? If so and he could see the screens, maybe it has something to do with being in a different world, like being able to understand/read the language (English vs. High Speech). Like when he tries to read Salem's Lot the words only "swim" to his eyes for a second before they're gone again. Maybe the television is like that. Or maybe not...please post the passage if you can find it, I'm very intrigued by this.

[pathoftheturtle]

We've had this question before. Click on the arrow icon v here v to have a look through our earlier offered thoughts.
I was wondering about Roland's eyes, specifically when he was in the hotel room with Mrs. Tassenbaum, and he was watching tv, but couldn't see anything.
I was wondering, do you think this is because of the difference between their worlds, or something else? I have a theory, a couple, actually, but i want to hear your thoughts first

[Brice]

bad reception

[ola]

Thanks!

Edit: yeah, razz totally already posted about this.. :doh:

I don't think the passage is there, but here anyway:


She turned on the television, thinking it would divert him, and was shocked by his reaction
(although she told herself that what she felt was amusement). When he told her he couldn’t
see it, she had no idea how to take what he was saying; her first thought that it was some
sort of oblique andteddibly intellectual criticism of the medium itself. Then she thought he
might be speaking (in equally oblique fashion) of his sorrow, his state of mourning. It
wasn’t until he told her that he heard voices, yes, but saw only lines which made his eyes
water that she realized he was telling her the literal truth: he could not see the pictures on
the screen. Not the rerun ofRoseanne, not the infomercial for Ab-Flex, not the talking head
on the local news. She held on until the story about Stephen King (taken by LifeFlight
helicopter to Central Maine General in Lewiston, where an early-evening operation
seemed to have saved his right leg—condition listed as fair, more operations ahead, road to
recovery expected to be long and uncertain), then turned the TV off.

[overhoser]

Thanks! For the earlier thread and the passage!


saw only lines which made his eyes
water

I think the posts at the other thread sum up a good set of theories, all of which make sense to me. I think I'm going to go with his eyes are too fast. The lines that made his eyes water....like if you see a CRT television on a video camera (at least a standard def camera), the image appears to be scrolling past. If Roland's eyes can see faster than the screen image is refreshed, then he might see it scrolling or perhaps in some sort of strobe effect, or both. I would think fluorescent lights might also hurt his eye since they actually pulse. Heck, they hurt MY eyes.

[CrimsonMordred]

So was this the part where the woman found Roland and drove him all over the place on a whim?

[ola]

So was this the part where the woman found Roland and drove him all over the place on a whim?

Yep.

[Brice]

Irene Tassenbaum, right?