Brief Summary And Analysis Of '20-20/20' By Linda Baker

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.

The main character is sent by his father to stay with his grandmother. This is where you learn that the strong heart runs in the family. This is true because she is a seventy-eight year old woman and will still patch out two acres of corn and make enough bread for the winter to do what she can to keep her family feed.  In her old age she hasn’t kept the best health. Some days she is too sick to get out of the bed. The main character takes care of her he cooks all the meals for her and helps her start to feel better. Living with her he hears stories of his father and how he is an honest man. Also his grandmother tells him about his grandfather and all the great things he would do.  Living with his grandmother is a great experience for the main character because she brings him history of his family and teaches him many things on how to live a content life.

The theme of the story is under some circumstances people can be blind to the truth. Character Edie determines the style of the story by talking about the circumstances of her life as a fifteen year old girl and as an older woman. She retells the stories of those that she has known, and the man that she believed she loved deeply. Sometimes the things we want to happen may not be the things that life has for us. We need to be open to all the opportunities in life that are different from what we believe.

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

“Cathedral” by Raymond Carver is a story that shows the sense of sight in relation to vision, but it shows that the sense of sight requires a much deeper engagement. The narrator, who Robert calls “Bub,” is astonishingly shortsighted or “blind” while the blind man is insightful and perceptive. Bub is not blind, but Robert is. Therefore, he assumes that he is superior to Robert. His assumption correlates with his idea that Robert is unable to make a female happy, nor is he able to have a normal life. Bub is convinced his ability to see is everything. So, he fails to look deeper than the surface and is why he doesn’t know his wife adequately. However, Robert sees much deeper than the narrator, although he cannot look at the surface. Robert’s ability to look deeper helps him understand through his listing and sense of touch. Throughout Robert’s visit, the narrator reveals he is closed minded and exposes how he views life in general. Bub is clobbered and it brings him to the epiphany that his views about Robert are actually a mirror image of how he views his life. His epiphany is shown through the author's use of appearance vs reality, irony, and vernacular dialogue; which shows Bub’s preconceived notations, the connection formed between Bub and Robert, and how out of obliviousness Bub gained insight.

Being different from other people is difficult to deal with in life, yet, we judge people who are different from us. Robert, a blind man, from a short story called, “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver is a wonderful book and a life lesson story. Robert is a blind man who had a strong friendship with Bub’s wife. Bub is the husband and isn’t really that type of person anyone would get along with.Throughout the story bub wasn’t very fond of Robert because he would get jealous that his wife would be more interested towards Robert. Robert and bub’s wife were best friends before bub married her. Roberts personality was interesting and a person who you would want to know in life. Throughout the end of the story, Carver, the author, sends a heartwarming message to the audience that can change your view in things in life. In the story, Robert was very easy going, shady and creative.

Jeannette’s parents teach their children to dream big. Jeannette’s mom who has a desire to be an artist and writer tries her best to do so. In times when she is not an addict, she was focused on achieving her dream, but never embraces being a parent. Rose Mary can be known as an “excitement addict”. When she cooked a meal for her family, the mission had to fulfilled in at least fifteen minutes. She knew if she forced on her dream, she knew the painting she would create would last forever. Not providing for her family with a concrete occupation resulted in running out of money. When money ran scarce, they retreated to the mining town of West Virginia. Moving happened often, because the romance of the wandering life faded away. Rex never tried in his power to escape from being penniless. The only solution he figured out was to steal money from the grocery store. When he followed through with this action, he disappeared for days not allowing the money to be used for his family. One immense dream, Rex had been living in a glass castle, where he would see all the imperfections of the world.

The narrator from Raymond Carver’s ‘Cathedral’, lived a clouded state of mind where his thoughts kept him from reaching the pellucid reality. Through the beginning of the narrative, the narrator expresses his harsh and judgmental opinions about blindness- which represents his incapacity and closed-mindedness to see beyond him. Later on his perspective is changed thanks to a sudden events. The narrator, which has no given name, is bothered by the impending visit of his wife’s blind friend, Robert. The narrator’s wife used to work for Robert from which they developed a relationship and inspired the wife to write poems about it. They, the wife and Robert, have maintained a constant communication through mailed tapes. All of these added up more to the narrator’s dislike for Robert. For example, when the narrator express his desconstest towards Robert’s disability: “And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies” (‘Cathedral’, Raymond Carver). Here the narrator’s narrowness and lack of sympathy is palpable. He is simple and superficial. Lives in a 2D way, is incapable of bearing a thought outside the box, and explore the depths of life in general. He is unhappy with his current work position but does nothing to change that fact. That’s until Robert’s visit. This is changed once the narrator gets to know Robert and Robert opens the narrator’s mind to life seen through another pair of eyes. For instance, after dinner is over, the narrator and Robert are watching a documentary about cathedrals. Suddenly, the narrator wonders if Robert has any knowledge of how cathedrals look like. There is where their journey begins. Robert ask to the narrator to draw a cathedral for him and request the narrator to add specific details (people, etc.). “So we kept on it. His fingers rode my fingers as my hand went over

To convey my point i will start by talking about imagery. The beginning of the story painted and image of wonder and adventure. Jeanette always talked of exploring the desert and finding gorgeous rocks. Jeanette and Brian would go into the desert at dawn and would not return until they would fill their pockets up with tons

Connie lives in two different worlds. She acts and dresses differently for each. She lives in the outside or dream world and the inner world which is her family and home. In the outside world Connie is like some sort of Cinderella who does nothing but shop, go to the movies, and dream about boys all day long. But, in the inner world, Connie does nothing but argue with her mom and sister about being pretty. However, Connie’s actions or past will somewhat determine her future. The two sides that Connie has is what will cause her to give up her life

The main theme in this story is identity.Throughout the book the main character, Irene struggles with her identity. In the first chapter Irene is a regular Passing women who lives in Harlem with her husband Brain, but we start to see her mental health problems as she reunites with her childhood friend Clare.Clare is also a woman that

As an instant result, the narrator’s mind operates on false stereotyped images. Case point, based on the name of the blind man’s wife, he assumes that she is a colored woman, and consequently ask his wife if the blind man’s wife is a Negro. In general, the narrator has a mere superficial concept about relationships; for instance, describing the blind man’s relations with his wife the narrator utters: “they’d married, lived and worked together, slept together-had sex, sure-and then the blind man had to bury her.” Also the narrator indicates that he felt, in a pitiful way, sorry for Beulah, the blind man’s wife, as he imagined a woman who could never figure herself from the eyes of her beloved one. In addition, the narrator is unenlightened of the real meaning of actions; this escalates when he labels as pathetic the decision of splitting a twenty-peso Mexican coin between the blind man and his dead

In the short story “Cathedral”, written by Raymond Carver, the story is told through the narrator’s eyes as the audience gains insight on his perspective of his life and, more specifically, his views on his wife and her blind friend. The narrator’s name is never mentioned throughout the story, but his personality and initial narrow-minded bias towards his wife’s friend Robert depicts his character traits. Throughout the story he does not seem to change his views, but once he experiences Robert’s point of view in his life, the narrator changes his perspective. This suggests the narrator is a dynamic character in the story due to his change after getting to know Robert.

These constant beatings in Maggie Johnson’s home, furniture thrown from parent to parent, and every aspect of her family life as being negative, her family situation is not an extremly healthy one. But, despite her hardships, Maggie grows up to become a beautiful young lady whose romantic hopes for a more desirable life remain untarnished.

The points of view in which the stories "The Itch" by Don DeLillo and "The Other Wife" by Colette are written have substantial impact on the way that readers get to know and understand the characters in them. The authors of these stories combine narration style and characterizations to construct stories that enable their readers to understand the characters, and the ways that they change and develop throughout them.