Do We See The Same Way That We Think?

The narrator has perfectly acceptable vision, he can see his wife, and he can see and describe Robert: “this blind man, feature this, he was wearing a full beard! A beard on a blind man! Too much, I say” (181). He

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.

Whether it be by the twenty-seven references to Robert as “the blind man” before the first mention of his name (pages 77-79), the appeals to speculative generalizations and stereotypes regarding the supposedly correct facial hairstyles, eyewear, and non-smoking habits of the blind (pages 80, 81), or even his inquiry into the skin color of Robert’s dead wife (page 79), the narrator is not shy about expressing his shallow obsession with the appearance of things. As he said himself, “…his being blind bothered me,” (page 77). And to his dismay, “this…blind man was coming to sleep in my house” (page 79). Notably, Robert is the only character named, and the significance of this is lies in the narrator’s demeanor towards other characters. He was cautious and possessive over his wife (page 80), defensive over himself and his name (page 78), and dismissive of her ex-husband

Once Robert arrives some, of the narrators assumptions about blind people are broke down immediately like when he mentions "He didn't use a cane and he didn't

The narrator assumes that that he is more capable of making his own wife happy than Robert simply because he can see. When the narrator makes this assumption it shows that he doesn’t know the difference between seeing and understanding something more deeply for the true meaning.

What I believe is being shown is that it is difficult to explain things to people who have never seen what you have experienced. Robert understands the difficulty in explaining something to him in words as he tells the narrator to bring a pen and thick paper. With the narrator drawing what the cathedral looks like and Robert holding his hand to grasp the image in his head. I find that at times you need to think in that person’s perspective, and at times it is not easy to describe what you have experienced to that person when they have not experienced the same events as you

The story opens with the narrator giving a background of his wife and Robert. Immediately, it is easy for the audience to form a negative opinion about the narrator. Within the first paragraph of the story he says, “I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me” (Carver 33). This exemplifies his pre-formed opinion about Robert even though he hardly knows anything about him. He clearly is uncomfortable with the fact that Robert is blind, mainly based on his lack of exposure to people with disabilities. The narrator is very narrow-minded for most of this story, making it easy to initially dislike him.

His further ignorance about the blind are focused in on Robert since he is aware of his upcoming visit. Hearing the marriage stories about Robert from his wife the narrator cannot realize how a woman could love a blind man, "It was beyond my understanding. Hearing this, I felt sorry for the blind man for a little bit. And then I found myself thinking what a pitiful life this women must have led" (508). This ignorance and immature understanding of relationships overshadows his attitude toward Roberts visit, unwanted and condescending. His attitude toward the blind man seems to change though before and furtherly during the connection they make as they draw the cathedral together. Although there is no evidence that the narrator's overall ignorances and prejudices are gone from the experience, it is very clear however that he does come to some sort of revelation and enlightment, "My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn't feel like I was inside anything" (515). Because what the narrator draws is a cathedral it is only assumable that this enlightment that the narrator experiences has to do with values of Christianity, in this case it would be a realization of equality and treating people with love, little is said about the effects this revelation has on him.

Wisdom comes with time and the blind. Robert is very keen to reply when the narrator jokingly asks, “what side of the train did you sit on coming from New York?” (89). His reply, ironically enough, was “the right side” (89). The narrator wasn’t expecting him to know which side was the more scenic side of the train since he was blind. Later on in the story, the narrator’s wife told Robert that, “she wants him to feel comfortable in this house” (89). Robert could sense that she was just looking out for him since her husband was being so rude. Robert knew that the joking around from the Narrator meant he was uncomfortable around Robert. After a few hours had passed by he tries to interact with the narrator. While listening to the TV, Robert asks the Narrator , “Are the paintings on the Cathedral frescoes?” (94). The question startles the narrator because he couldn’t believe that he knew what a fresco painting looked like. He didn’t even know what a fresco looks like himself. Then Robert asks the narrator to describe the cathedral to him. After attempting the narrator says “I’m not doing very well am I?” (95). That’s when Robert knew how complacent the Narrator was with his life. The hopelessness in his words were unimaginable. The Narrator could not accept change.

The speaker puts Robert in a category that stops him from seeing him as an individual, yet receives an eye-opening experience through the blind man’s knowledge and

As soon as the story begins, we are told that the narrator is not happy about the upcoming visit from his wife’s blind friend, Robert. The narrator states “I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit,” “[Robert] being blind bothered me”, and “a blind

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

The beginning of the story presents the narrator’s wife working for a blind man one summer by reading, “stuff to him, case studies, reports, that sort of thing” (Carver, 34). She eventually extends an invitation for the blind man, Robert, to stay at their house after Robert’s wife had passed away. The narrator was not too happy about having a stranger stay in his home by stating, “I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed” (Carver, 34). The narrator seems very timid about someone he had never met stay at his house who can see purely nothing. This gives off an impression that the narrator doesn’t want to have Robert stay with him because he will be a hassle to keep up with since blind people in the “movies” progress, “slowly and never

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.

The narrator is pre-judgemental towards all people who are blind, whether or not he has met them. He believes all blind people are the same as those he has watched in movies. The narrator perception of the blind is that they “moved slowly and never laughed” and when they went out “they were led by seeing eye-dogs” (Carver 104). The movie industry creates a false image of the blind, which leads to the narrator’s assumptions. However, the blind are not all the same, just like how everyone else in the world are not the same. People are designed to be different in their personalities, thoughts, looks and much more. The narrator’s ideas of Robert are based off of false conceptions and this changes his attitude towards Robert. The narrator already has strong feelings towards Robert before meeting him