Humanity In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

Raymond Carver’s unnamed narrator in “Cathedral” provides a first-person point of view. This perspective opens a clear window into the feelings, attitudes, and the isolation of the unnamed narrator. The narrator’s tone of voice reveals his feelings and personality. This contributes to the story’s themes because the reader comes to understand things that the narrator never directly or deliberately reveals; as a result, the reader comes to empathize with the narrator more deeply. Isolation and loneliness are prevalent themes in “Cathedral”. Appropriately, the narrator is insular and narrow-minded. He is unhappy and resentful because he overlooks the worth and liveliness of other people and is unable to make connections with them. Consequently he is afflicted with loneliness and isolation. “He is numb and isolated”, says Mark A.R. Facknitz, “a modern man for whom integration with the human race would be so difficult that it is futile. Consequently he hides by failing to try, anesthetizes himself with booze, and explains away the world with sarcasm.” (Facknitz 294) The narrator also appears to be emotionally distant from his wife. Neither he nor his wife are able to relate successfully to one another. Because of this, he is envious of the blind man, Robert, who seems to be the only one capable of creating and sustaining deep and personal connections with other people. As the story develops, the narrator’s increasing ability to connect with Robert and his wife emphasizes the

Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” is a short story about a blind man who stays with the narrator and his wife, and the personal growth of the narrator that takes place throughout the night. The story opens at the home of the narrator and his wife as the blind man, who is an old friend of the wife, is on his way to visit his recently deceased wife’s relatives. Conflict in the story stems from the narrators apparent distaste for blind people and him not wanting a bind person to stay in their home. Throughout the night the wife and blind man discuss their lives and chat politely while the narrator feels increasingly uncomfortable and left-out in his struggle to communicate with a man who has no sight. After an awkward dinner, the wife goes upstairs leaving the blind man and the narrator alone. After a few awkward

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.

“Cathedral” represents the theme of how important communication is to the success of relationships. First, when the man finds out the woman’s blind friend is coming he makes many rude comments. As a result, the woman then starts to attack the man personally by saying, “You don’t have any friends” (Carver, “Cathedral” 34). Due to their poor communication, the man cannot simply express that he is insecure that her friend is coming, and he also cannot tell his wife that he believes Robert will be a burden because he is blind. Likewise, the man

P1:1 “Freedom,” written in English 363, analyzes (formalism approach), Frederick Douglass’, “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” that expresses Douglass’ human condition/need for freedom from slavery. Douglass writes about his wish for freedom from slavery during the 1800’s (Douglass Ch 1). Douglass has a good life with his first master, and he learns to read, but his second owner treats him cruelly and then he seeks freedom from slavery (Douglass Ch 1). Douglass in his poem to the ships reflects upon one Sunday afternoon (like many other Sundays) when he is off from work and near the water admiring the passing ships and wishing for his freedom from slavery (Douglass Ch 10). Douglass believes that all slaves wish for freedom from

In the story “Cathedral” the narrator is the husband of a wife who has kept in touch with her old boss from several years ago. The boss is Robert, a blind man whose wife has just passed away. After his wife’s death, Robert wanted to visit and stay with an ex-employee. The husband doesn’t want the blind man to stay over at his house because he is jealous of Robert. The husband’s wife has kept in touch with the blind man for the last ten years.

Carver’s story “Cathedral” opens with this blind man, coming to visit the narrator’s wife friend of ten years. It takes place in the narrator's home; he is on his way to spend the night. However,

The short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver regards a middle-aged man (the unnamed narrator) whose wife invites her blind friend to their house to spend the night. The narrator is displeased with his wife’s friendship with the blind man, and overall fails to understand it. The narrator is portrayed by Carver as an apathetic man who continually fails to form connections with his peers, especially his wife. However, after spending some time with the blind man, the narrator experiences a transformation. In this story, the author helps the reader to understand that there is a much deeper meaning to life than superficial interaction; absent-mindedly going through the motions of life without pausing to connect with our peers causes us to miss out on the beauty of human connection.

You cannot truly see the world and understand other people, until you see inside yourself. Raymond Carver’s The Cathedral is a story that shows you do not have to actually “see” in order to appreciate the world or those in it. The narrator Bub forms a relationship with Robert, by the end of the story, although it starts to form with his wife, then when he actually meets Robert, and finally their “experience” together in the end. People tend to be blind to the world, until guided by someone with another insight on the world.

The Reader will always be a vital part to literature, for obvious reasons but also for not so obvious reasons. Without the reader the age old question of “If a tree falls in the middle of a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” starts to apply to literature. A book’s meaning does not exist until a reader picks it up and adds his/her own interpretation of what a story is trying to convey. The two stories I chose are stories that brought out many interpretations not only from me but my colleagues as well. “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver & “The Jewelry” by Guy de Maupassant are the chosen books I found had various interpretations and even passions that were displayed while discussing these two works in our discussions. The reason for discussing these stories is the sexual undertones that are possibly hidden within the text, the roles of the wives in relation to their husband, and allegations of infidelity in respect to the wives of the stories. Some Colleagues felt that there are negative characteristics of the relationships of the protagonists of the story that affect the wives and their marital vows towards their husbands.

The life of the unnamed wife was a series of events. She received a job reading to a blind man in Seattle named Robert who she became very fond of. After some time, the wife married her childhood sweetheart who was a part of the military and ended up moving away. She kept in touch with Robert throughout her time overseas, the divorce and the marriage to her new husband. The two kept in touch, but began to drift apart until Roberts wife died and he came to visit the unnamed narrator and wife (Carver p.32-35). Once Robert walked through the door his appearance and personality surprised the narrator greatly. In Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” the narrator is constantly judging Robert because of his disability. The narrators’ analysis of the

“Cathedral,” is an extraordinary story by Raymond Carver. It can be viewed as a plain narrative prose that describes a boring day the narrator spend with a blind man, or it can also be viewed as an iconic story which contains narrator’s invisible complaints and dissatisfactions about every aspect of the life. Raymond Carver buries two parallel lines in one story: the first for telling what is happening in the narrator’s house, and another for revealing what is changing in the narrator’s mind. However, in the story, there are much more hidden clues to imply the message it carries ---- “blind” is not a word that is only used to describe vision.

Cathedral is a short story written by Raymond Carver, published in 1983. The story begins with the narrator telling us that this blind man named Robert is coming to have dinner and stay the night. The narrator mention how his wife worked for Robert one summer about ten years prior to the visit, and how the two of them became friend and have continued to correspond by using cassette tapes. The narrator, having never met someone that is blind, is a bit apprehensive about having to entertain Robert. He has no clue what he should do or say.

Never judge a book by its cover. This being said, in Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral,” there are three main characters; the narrator, his wife, and their guest of honor, Robert. He is visiting the narrator’s wife after the passing of his own beloved wife, Beulah. Prior to their meet, the Narrator, is terribly jealous of Robert. He has grown tired of his wife consistently talking about this blindman who she used to assist with his work. She tells the Narrator that before her second marriage, Robert placed his hands on her face and it was the most sensational feeling ever. His visit brings an unwelcoming comfortability for the Narrator. How can someone be so jealous of another’s friendship? Robert is the epitome of a short story character. He

Motivation in the form of ‘Vanity’ in this context appears to be derived from an external ‘gaze’ and feelings of admiration from others, which again brings to light the question