Compare And Contrast Cathedral And Night Carver

In this man’s case, he had simply never met a blind person before; although, he confides, “A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (106). He is ignorant to the reality of living without sight as he has only a vague notion of the concept from movies. Yet, after the narrator’s wife’s blind friend, Robert, suffers the loss of his wife, Robert comes to visit them. The very idea of having this stranger in his house frightens the narrator and creates a schism between him and his wife. Finally, Robert arrives at the house and is treated to a warm welcome from the wife and some awkward common courtesy from her husband. As the night progresses, the wife gets tired and falls asleep leaving the two men alone. The television drones on about cathedrals as they sit in uncomfortable silence together. Soon curiosity gets the better of the narrator and he wonders how great an understanding of the religious monuments Robert could possibly have. After regurgitating the facts previously spouted by the television program, the blind man suggests they draw one. The husband agrees and as the drawing nears completion he’s asked, with his eyes closed, “‘Take a look. What do you think?’” To which the narrator replies, “‘It’s really something’” (115).

In Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral”, the short story is told by a character within the story. The first-person point of view gives us a transparent visual of an important time in the narrators’ life. The narrator, who is “un-named” in the beginning of the story, uses blunt, flawless and a particular choice of words. This gives us as the reader a deeper connection with the narrator. The narrator begins this story by taking us through the changes he go through with the uneasy feeling of having a blind-man coming to his house to visit.

The two stories of “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “Popular Mechanics” by Raymond Carver are similar yet differ in a way. The biggest and most noticeable similarity is the irony that these stories consist of. Both of these stories can be made apparent of the horrific ironic endings. However, these two stories’ writing styles differ in many ways.“Popular Mechanics” is apparently written using minimalism ideas, where “The Story of an Hour,” has some minimalism but is more of a classic short story. The two stories could be categorized as minimalism stories but written in different styles to portray different meanings. There are many comparisons between the two stories but they also reveal different ideas and meanings.

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

Edgar Allan Poe is a well known dark romantic writer from the 1800’s. He is known for his strange and shocking short stories and poems about decrepitate revelations about life, death, and loss. These stories shock readers by telling truths that were previously never publicized. In order to shock the reader, Poe uses literary devices such as syntax, diction, and setting in his works “The Raven”, “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Bells” .

In this lesson, we will explore three of the major themes of 'Night ' and the imagery that the author, Elie Wiesel, uses to create them. The themes we will discuss are identity, silence, and night.

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 narrator just sees with his eyes. He looks right through things. There is a difference in looking and seeing. The narrator seems to be changing while drawing the cathedral and feeling great for once about life. Although when drawing it his wife asks him what he is doing and him ignoring her shows that he has not changed for good. He cannot answer his wife so that shows that he is not changing to be a better man or husband. The significance to this story is that truly seeing things is a better way of going through life rather than overlooking the beauty. In the story Robert teaches the narrator how to see without his eyes. At the end of the story Robert tells the narrator to open his eyes but he does not listen, he still is taking in the beauty of being able to see without his eyes. The narrator has gone his whole life without truly seeing the world around him and seeing people for who they are and not what they look like. The narrator drawing the cathedral without physically looking opens him up to a new and better lifestyle. If he has truly changed then he can finally see the true beauty in people and the whole rest of the

A lot of the time, the bias of the world interferes with the perception of others and the way they are viewed, leaving out the realistic factor of how that person’s personality actually is. We make assumptions based on what we were taught growing up, and the experiences we’ve had in life. In the short story, “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver the narrators bias led him to believe that the blind man who was visiting his wife will be nothing but an awkward person who is incapable of doing things on his own. Throughout the story the narrator, learns through multiple experiences that the blind man is not that different from him, and that he can do almost everything an un-handicapped person could do in their daily life.

"Cathedral" is a short story ultimately about enlightment, finding something more meaningful and deeper with in one self. Although from an observing point of view nothing more in the story happens then a blind man assisting the narrator in drawing a cathedral. Although as known, the narrator's experience radically differs from what is actually "observed". He is enlightened and opened up to a new world of vision and imagination. This brief experience will have a life long effect on him. The reason for this strong and positive effect is not so much the relationship made between the blind man and the narrator or even the actual events leading up to this experience, but rather it is mostly due to what was drawn by the narrator.

Cathedral is a capitivating story based on the lives of the narrator, his wife and a blind man. Raymond Carver is the author of this story, and he does an excellent job allowing the reader to delve into the lives of these characters. Through using the thoughts of the narrator, the reader is able to grab our attention because the story is made more realistic. The views expressed by the narrator in many senses exemplify the views of many in society and therefore the reader is able to make an emotional connection through the story.

and similarities is the goal of this paper. These stories are “ Cathedral “ which was

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

In “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, I found the difference between looking and seeing. Looking means just a single physical sight but seeing is not simple as looking. Seeing requires a deeper level of engagement. As narrator tells about Robert, the blind friend of his wife, who was about to visit their home. He has some negative thoughts about the Robert.

Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King are two authors I will discuss in this essay. I will compare how they create a sense of horror, the importance of setting, atmosphere and also how their characters are developed. The short stories that will be compared by these authors are “The Tell Tale Heart” by Poe and “The Man in the Black Suit” by Stephen King. Both short stories has its own unique writing style. Poe and King writing is very similar but different it their own way. They both have the same subject which is horror, but one is coming from a traditional point of view and the other is from the twentieth century time period. Let’s examine some of their differences.