Raymond Carver's Cathedral

The narrator is not welcoming of his wife’s old friend, Robert, to his home. He categorizes Robert as part of his wife’s past, which makes him jealous and bitter towards Robert. He doesn’t care whether this visit is important to his wife, nor what role Robert has played in helping her over-come her suicide attempt and her divorce. The narrator is also jealous of his wife’s ex-husband and in the story “Cathedral” leaves him nameless, “why should he have a name? he was the childhood sweetheart, and what more does he want?” (Carver 436). When the narrator, his wife, and Robert are sitting and conversing, the narrator is expecting his wife to talk to Robert about her “dear husband”; even though every comment he has made to his wife about Robert, and everything he does, seems to irritate and anger her.

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

What attitudes define the narrator throughout much of the story? What is his attitude toward his wife, toward Robert, toward his own experience and the experience of others? The short story “Cathedral” written by Raymond Carver is about a blind widower, his good friend and old employee, and the good friend’s husband. The narrator of the story is the husband of the widower’s friend and the thoughts and feelings from him portray a man who is fearful of the unknown.

A show is filming a splendid view of a cathedral, and the narrator is explaining the show to the blind man. It is the part when the narrator believes that there is a chance to “revenge” with his advantage of seeing what a cathedral looks like, thus he tries his best to describe the appearance of the cathedral to the blind man. However, the narrator fails to pick appropriate words to summarize the cathedral’s appearance. He can easily imagine almost every kind of cathedral in this world, but he just can’t find a way to describe them. At that time, the blind man regains the initiative. He asks the narrator to pick up a piece of paper and a pen. He orders the narrator to draw a cathedral with his own hands. He even persuades the narrator to close his eyes and feel. Yet when the narrator finally closes his eyes, he feels something

A narrator in “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver is a closed-minded man who suffers from prejudice against blind people. He is detached from himself, as well as from people around him. Among all themes demonstrated in this story, the most interesting aspect was relationships. In particular, the author compares the deep connection between two people and martial problems. Carver has made me to consider mane aspects and values that a family consist of.

In "Cathedral" the narrator goes on about his inferences on what the blind man will be like saying he does not know what to expect from him. "I’ve never met, or personally known, anyone who was blind"(Carver) "I remembered having read somewhere that the blind didn’t smoke because, as speculation had it, they couldn’t see the smoke they exhaled." (Carver) The narrator in these lines as well as many others shows that although he has never been one on one with a blind person before all blind people must be like the stories he has heard. All the rumors he has heard from conversations, all of the things the narrator saw on tv, the way he perceived the blind man in general was not how he ended up knowing the blind man in the conclusion of the story. Towards the ending of the story his point of view and opinion on the blind man and on blind people in general had been changed from what he actually experienced first-hand instead of guessing what a blind person would be like. At the beginning of the article the narrator was hesitant on

In Raymond Carver’s short story, “Cathedral”, we meet the character who is never named, and who is known as the narrator to us. Although the narrator’s character changed towards the end, and we don’t really learn much after the change of his personality, it is still a gradual change that took place. The narrator’s attitude is very important in the story because it revolves around him and the way he views things. This short story is about a man who is married to a woman, and this woman has been friends with a blind man who is going to visit her at her home, after his wife has just passed away. The narrator does not like the idea of the blind man visiting his home, and finds himself very uncomfortable about the visit. He criticizes everything the blind man does, and does not understand that there is more to life than just having eyesight. The narrator has a change of insight at the end of the short story due to the blind man named Robert, who shows him there is more to life than not being able to see. The narrator in this story is a dynamic character.

As if someone has unlocked his prison cell to liberate him of his stereotypical point of view. The protagonist of Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” was an individual whose stagnant mind has blind him from truly seeing the aspects and characteristics of people around him. Before meeting his wife’s blind friend whose name is Robert, the protagonist perceives reality with a stereotypical mind-set shaped by misleading information from movies. Hence, he make judgement about other people without ever setting his foot inside their shoes. Robert whose character, in an academic sense acts like a teacher, helps enlighten the protagonist’s mind by through his appearance, and actions. Raymond Carver explores how individuals with stereotypical perspective are metaphorically blind, but he also reassures readers that it is possible for these people to broaden their knowledge when they learn how to be empathetic.

As we gain knowledge we gain understanding, giving us a different view of the world. In the story, “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, the author takes us through a day in the life of a husband who is forced by his wife to meet and entertain her longtime friend Robert- who happens to be blind. The husband is not exactly excited by this visit. The author illustrates the characters’ development beginning as apprehensive and jealous, transitioning to more of an uncomfortable feeling, and finally ending with acceptance as the husband is put into a situation where he gains a new understanding of the blind man. He ends the story with his eyes closed and a mind open to a new view of the world.

In “Cathedral,” Carver’s use of visualization and climactic change of character emphasizes the theme that looking and seeing are two very different things. When Raymond Carver had his wife’s blind friend, Robert, join them for a few days, he should’ve been more understanding and empathetic with Robert’s blindness instead of just avoiding it or brushing it off as if it’s not there. Carver did very well in changing his ways and learning to accept and understand Robert. Carver also did a good job of differentiating the acts of seeing something and really understanding something or someone. At first, he disliked Robert because he was blind. Carver even pondered over how Robert could’ve loved his late wife if he couldn’t see her, showing his

Can a person learn something from communicating with someone else? For some people connecting with a new person is difficult and one might question the idea of connecting with a new person. For example, in Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” The narrator is unhappy about the blind man Robert coming to stay at his house. Then, the narrator starts to enjoy Robert’s company. While they are watching television, Robert tells the narrator to fetch a piece of heavy paper. Lastly, the narrator and Robert draw a picture of a cathedral together so Robert can get a better idea of a cathedral. In the story “Cathedral,” the narrator’s thoughts, actions, and feelings reveal the theme that even when unexpected, one can learn something from meeting new people.

Before his transcending interaction with Robert, the narrator is portrayed as rude, crass, and obscene shown with his vices such as drinking scotch and smoking marijuana cigarettes. He also makes unnecessary jokes about the blind especially when he’s jealous of his wife’s and Robert’s past relationship. Eventually, as the narrator and Robert spend more time together, the narrator opens up to Robert and does so with an emotional attachment that comes from the bottom of his heart. The narrator’s has a complete change of perspective after his interaction with Robert and shows that he has initial biased views towards Robert because of his own internal struggles such as his feelings of isolation, his marital relationship insecurities, and his apathetic view of religion.

The story starts with the blind man and the old friend of narrator’s wife whose wife had died. The narrator’s wife and the blind man were old close friend. The blind man touches her face and they are connected to each other, and they also share their feelings. The narrator’s wife tries to write the story about them too. The narrator describes how the blind man and his wife keep in touch by sending tapes to each

In the story “Cathedral”, author, Raymond Carver, show the readers that a person does not need their eyes to see as sight has a deeper meaning for different people. Within the story, the narrator, husband, describe his experience with his wife’s longtime friend Robert, a blind man who came to visit after losing his own wife to cancer. The story takes place in the husbands home somewhere in the East Coast near Connecticut. As the husband has a drink and waits for his wife’s arrival with Robert, the husband shows an uneasiness about Robert being blind. Upon their arrival, the husband notices how joyful and happy his wife is with Robert and does not understand why. Inside the home, the husband and Robert had a few drinks accompanied with light conversation until dinner where the husband is impressed at how the Robert can describe the foods there are eating. After the dinner, the husband leaves to the couch to watch T.V. The wife and Robert join the husband him shortly after. After the wife falls asleep on the couch, the husband stops on a channel where they speak of Cathedrals and the blind man want him to describe it. Unable to use descriptive word to help Robert see, Robert asks the husband to draw the Cathedral on a paper thick enough so Robert can feel the lines. Robert joins hands with the husband as he draws on the paper and begins to visualize what a cathedral looks like while the husband has an insight on how to see through the eyes

“Cathedral” portrays the difference between looking and seeing. The visitor in the story has the disability of blindness, which the narrator comments, “ I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me” (Carver 106). The narrator is figuratively blinded by jealousy and can’t understand why his wife is so obsessed with her friendship with a blind man. He uses irony to emphasize the epiphany the narrator has at the end of the story. Niwar A. Obaid points out, “[T]he narrator can see with his eyes but does not realize the restrictions he has placed on himself, and how those