Analysis Of Robert Arrives 's ' A New Vision

The main character or narrator in the Cathedral was not only jealous of the relationship between his wife and her friend (the blind man); moreover, he had not seen him in person and did not appreciate the idea that he was actually spending the night at their house. However, after the narrator’s encounter with Robert, he perceives that he was not what he expected him to be; instead, he was gentle and friendly. On the other hand, the main character or narrator in everyday use was outspoken and straightforward, explaining about her surroundings and what had transpired in her life. From harsh labor to the different circumstances, she had faced in her lifetime; she also talks about her daughters who had different personalities.

Sometimes we have to look beyond what we see on the outside to understand something more deeply. In the short story Cathedral By Raymond Carver, the narrator has an attitude of being selfish, and jealous through the story. The narrator’s wife invites a blind man, Robert, to come stay in their house for a short time while the man visits family members of his own wife who recently passed. The narrator is not enthusiastic because blind people make the narrator uncomfortable, mainly because the narrator has no real experience with the blind. In addition, to his uneasiness with the blind the narrator is uncomfortable with the relationship his wife and the blind man have. The wife and Robert, the blind man, have maintained a close

At one point the television programs stops its narration and shows cinematic shots of a cathedral. The narrator feels uncomfortable in the silence knowing that the blind man cannot see the video of the cathedral, so he attempts to describe what is being shown. After a few vague descriptions and some prodding from the blind man, the narrator quickly grows frustrated with his inability to describe the cathedral. Sensing his growing frustration, the blind man asks the narrator to collect paper and pens so that they can draw the cathedral together to show the blind man what it looks like. Once the narrator collects the materials, they sit hand in hand and begin to draw the cathedral. Eventually the blind man asks the narrator to close his eyes and just experience the moment. After doing so, the narrator has a sort of epiphany and better understands the blind man’s life, and his distaste fades away. The dichotomy of the narrator’s feelings after drawing the cathedral and his thoughts early on in the story perfectly illustrate the personal growth of the narrator throughout the

Blindness is not limited to physical manifestation. In Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral,” the figurative blindness is immediately apparent through the narrator and his shallowness, irrational jealousy, and egotistical personality. His dismissive behavior and ignorance towards the feelings of Robert, his wife’s blind friend, speak negatively of his character and reveals his insecurities. While the narrator’s emotional blindness and Robert’s physical blindness initially inhibits their bond, it eventually leads the narrator to an epiphany and the beginning of a character transformation. The different forms of blindness allow the characters to bond and grow over the course of the story.

In Raymond Carver's "Cathedral," the husband's view of blind men is changed when he encounters his wife's long time friend, Robert. His narrow minded views and prejudice thoughts of one stereotype are altered by a single experience he has with Robert. The husband is changed when he thinks he personally sees the blind man's world. Somehow, the blind man breaks through all of the husband's jealousy, incompetence for discernment, and prejudgments in a single moment of understanding.

In the narrative, the author writes the story in first person point of view through an unnamed narrator which enables the reader to visualize, experience, and perceive a deeper insight into his mind. The story commences with the narrator speaking directly to the audience appearing closed-off and narrow-minded. His wife has an old friend named Robert, who happens to be blind, coming to spend the night. Right away, the reader can sense how the narrator comes off as self-absorbed. He`s only concerned about how Robert’s visit will affect him and is inconsiderate about the strong bond Robert and his wife have built over the years. The narrator also lacks self-awareness when he found himself thinking “what a pitiful life this woman must have led.” (Carver 3) The woman being Beulah, Robert`s recently deceased wife, who the narrator belittled as she married a blind man and now she “could never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one.” (Carver 3) Not realizing that with

Furthermore, the title of the short story has symbolic representation to the transformation the narrator partakes as the story ends. Specifically, when the narrator begins to explain the cathedral on the TV and is unable to describe it with detail to Robert, shows how blind he is even though he is able to look at the things show in the program. In the short story, Robert suggests to the narrator to work together on drawing a cathedral to better illustrate it. As both hold on to the pen and trace the cathedral unto the piece of paper bag, Robert is able to visualize it in his mind; the narrator, on the other hand, gets to a point in his life where he realizes that he is now able to see, rather than just look at something, and is able to understand its meaning, as he states “it was like nothing else in my life up to now…my eyes were still closed.” Here, the narrator recognizes that even though his eyes were closed, as if he was blind, he is able to tell how immensely and detailed cathedrals are.

Say my life was being threatened by an insane guy who said I had to do it or else.” (Carver 43). This moment in story allows the narrator to finally try to comprehend the greater meaning of life by him closing his eyes and drawing a cathedral with Robert. This moment is a further showing of the narrator’s change, in the beginning he was bitter towards Robert due to his bias against blindness, but this moment allows him to understand Robert and show change.

The protagonist realizes the blind man is not a thing, he is a human, even though he lacks eyesight. In addition, being comprehensive allows the narrator to come out of his narrow-mindedness. For instance, the narrator says, “the blind man got down from the sofa and sat next to me on the carpet.”(88) Furthermore, “He ran his fingers over the paper. He found my hand,….He closed his hand over my hand. “Go ahead, bub, draw, “he said “draw… you’ll see. Draw,” ” (88). ““Take a look. What do you think?” But I had my eyes closed. I thought I’d keep them that way for a little longer. I thought it was something I ought to do. “Well?’’ he said. “Are you looking?’’ My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything. “It’s really something,’’ I said.” (89) Because of the narrator’s acceptance and appreciation as a human, the protagonist opens himself. Also, the experience of drawing a “Cathedral” together, and having his eyes close demonstrates that. Moreover, illustrating cathedral jointly allows the protagonist to be compassionate about Robert and enable him to change his

The more he interacts with the blind man, the more his defenses and preconceived notions fall away. The narrator asks the blind man if he would like to smoke marijuana with him, during this Robert acknowledges his preconceived ideas by assuming the blind man smokes when he does not. Robert says, “I thought I knew that much and that much about blind people” (Carver, 187). Here, he must acknowledge he is previous notion was incorrect, and that is the furthest step we have yet to see the narrator take. The blind man staying up with him that evening shows him reaching out and attempting to help Robert evolve. As the blind man says “I am always learning something. Learning never ends” (Carver, 188). This represents Roberts learning and growing as a person. The true transformation is depicted through the describing of the Cathedral. Robert attempts two times to describe a cathedral but cannot find the words or description to it justice. The blind man leads him to draw it and made him close his eyes. Now Robert is seeing in a new way. No longer through his eyes, but from within. Robert describes this as “like nothing else in my life up to now” (Carver, 190). Together, one man eyes closed trying to see from within, one man blind but able to see from within, they draw the Cathedral. Robert kept his eyes closed for a long time after this. As he points out, “ my eyes were still closed” and “ I thought I ‘d keep them that way for a little longer” (Carver, 190 ). When the story finishes, Robert says “I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything” (Carver, 190). He had come to see in a new

One should never judge a book by its cover. This is a recurrent theme in the short story “Cathedral.” In Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral,” the narrator forms misguided opinions about his wife’s blind friend, Robert, even before he actually meets him. The narrator’s opinions are greatly influenced by stereotypes, jealousy, and even anger.

The story follows the narrator and his wife who has invited her old friend to stay at their home because his wife has just passed away. The friend, Robert, is blind and the narrator’s wife worked for him as a reader ten years prior. They remained close and kept in touch by sending audiotapes to one another, recounting what was going on in their lives. Robert’s blindness makes the narrator uncomfortable and he does not look forward to his visit, even though it is quite important to his wife. The three spend a somewhat awkward evening together and the narrator become more comfortable with Robert as the night progresses and as his wife falls asleep. The narrator gains some compassion for Robert and attempts to describe what the cathedral on the

when the narrator tries to describe the cathedral, he realizes he can’t articulate with words. He decides that the reason he can’t find those words is that the cathedral has no meaning for him and tells Robert that he doesn’t have a faith when Robert ask if he is religious. But when he put in the time and effort to draw the cathedral, and really think about it, he became interested, he added details and people to make the picture complete and when Robert told him to draw some of it with his eyes closed he did. When the drawing is finished, Robert tells the narrator to open his eyes but the narrator keeps his eyes closed, because what he’s visualizing with his mind is greater than anything he’s ever seen with his eyes

In “Cathedral,” the husband judges his wife’s blind friend, who is going to visit them, before he even meets him. He assumes that all blind people are the same, believing that the blind man is going to be like the blind people he’s seen in movies or has heard about. Throughout the blind man’s visit, the husband doesn’t know how to act and is very silent, just listening to the conversations, because he thinks that he already knows what the blind man is like. In the end of the story, the husband realizes that the blind man is not how he assumed he would be like. The husband realized that he is just like everyone else and that his blindness doesn’t stop him from knowing things or from being able to see things that his eyes can’t. There is a turning point where he really begins to understand what the man is like. Raymond Carver allows us to make the connection and realize that at times we are just like the husband, we judge people without meaning to, even when we’ve never met them. We tend to automatically make assumptions about people based on our own standards and

What does it means to “see”? Seeing is the capacity to observe the things around us with your eyes. In Raymond Carver’s story “Cathedral”, it for told the meeting between an initially self-absorbed narrator and an open-minded visually impaired man, Robert. As this short story unfolds, it becomes obvious that the narrator and Robert need each other in hopes to grow and gain a fresh perspectives. The narrator is completely capable of seeing as a result he began to assume that he was superior to Robert. Robert’s disability makes him unable to fully satisfied a woman, let alone live any sort of normal life. The narrator is absolutely sure that his capacity to see is significant. He puts little effort into seeing anything pass the exterior. This shows that, he doesn’t understand his wife very well and they fight a lot. Robert, nevertheless, has the talent to “see” on a much deeper level. This also shows that, Carver interact with his audiences by implanting the reader into the story, through his use of limits and dynamic narrational perspective. He explores the subject of amazing quality through his utilization of tone, setting, symbolism, and character growth in order to depict the husband's climactic illumination. In conclusion, to see is to have the capacity to see the things around us while setting aside assumptions or dread about these objects or individuals. The narrator realizes what it meant to “see”