Raymond Carvers' Cathedral Essay

Sometimes we have to look beyond what we see on the outside to understand something more deeply. In the short story Cathedral By Raymond Carver, the narrator has an attitude of being selfish, and jealous through the story. The narrator’s wife invites a blind man, Robert, to come stay in their house for a short time while the man visits family members of his own wife who recently passed. The narrator is not enthusiastic because blind people make the narrator uncomfortable, mainly because the narrator has no real experience with the blind. In addition, to his uneasiness with the blind the narrator is uncomfortable with the relationship his wife and the blind man have. The wife and Robert, the blind man, have maintained a close

Moreover, Carver uses first person point of view to describe the narrator’s life and the meaning of the cathedral to him. Through the first person point of view given to the narrator and one of the main characters of the story, Carver is able to portray a narrator who is jealous and insecure of himself. The narrator’s

The cathedral is used symbolically to represent the gradual shift in Caver’s sensibility. It symbolically signals the movement towards hope from horror in ambiguity. Despair and equilibrium redemption replace Emotional tumult. On the other side, Carver’s story is

The story of Cathedral, by Raymond Carver, shows that you do not have to see someone or something in order to appreciate them for who or what they are. It is about a husband, the narrator, and his wife who live in a house. The wife, whose name they do not mention, has a very close friend who is blind. His name is Robert. Robert's wife dies, and comes to their house to spend a couple of days with the narrator and his wife. The narrator, whose name they do not mention as well, is always on edge because he does not really know Robert very well and he does not like blind people, but he is being friendly for his wife's sake. The story comes to an end when Robert and the narrator draw a cathedral together using the narrator's hand and helped by

“Cathedral” by Carver isn’t a story that immediately grabbed my attention. By the way that the story is written to the actual story itself, it was missing something that made me want to continue reading it at first, but then I realized that there is a purpose for it being that way. I felt disconnected because that’s how the husband felt. This story had more to it than the author lead on. After looking back at the story I realized that although one of the characters is blind, it’s actually two that were blind and the second being the husband.

In the “Cathedral,” Raymond Carver tried to portray two different aspects of blindness; one is a person who physically unable to see the world due to lack of eyes and other aspect concerns about narrator’s and his wife’s blindness who are not blind physical but socially and emotionally. In this story, there are various metaphors of blindness. One example of which is a blind person helping the other person (who is not visually impaired) to draw cathedral even though he hasn't seen one. Blindness is not a physical inability of a person; it's beyond than that. In the “Cathedral,” Robert wasn’t the one that was blind however, the narrator was blind.

Often as apart of the Hero's journey, the main character or characters undergo a journey in which the way they see the world is changed. In Raymond Carver’s ‘Cathedral’, the narrator is troubled by Robert’s, his wife’s friend, visit and blindness. Through the narrative the narrator obliviousness is transformed. ‘A General in the Library’ By Italo Calvino, demonstrates how General Fedina and his officials overcome censorship and suppression through knowledge and the transformative power of books. In ‘A General in the Library’ By Italo Calvino and Raymond Carver’s ‘Cathedral’, both protagonists undergo obstacles resulting in a change of perspective after impromptus event that alters their lives and precipitates an

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.

Plato’s “Myth of the Cave” and Carver’s Cathedral provide insight into parallel words. The protagonists in each story are trapped in a world of ignorance because each is comfortable in the dark, and fearful of what knowledge a light might bring. They are reluctant to venture into unfamiliar territory. Fortunately the narrator in the Cathedral is forced by circumstances to take a risk. This risk leads him into new world of insight and understanding.

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.

This self-evaluation helps the characters overcome their crisis of communication, which progressively transforms them throughout the story. Minimalism simultaneously affects the different forms of communication in Carvers writing.

The story “Cathedral” demonstrates that lack of sight does not necessarily prevent one from perceiving things as they are, or live their life to the fullest. In the story, a middle-age blind man, who is a friend to the narrator’s wife, and used to be her boss at one point, visits the narrator and his wife. The narrator has never interacted with blind people before, and all he knew about blind people was what he had seen on television. Blind people are stereotypically portrayed on television as slow moving, dull people, who never laugh. Based on this perception, the narrator was reluctant to meet the blind man and doubted whether they were going to connect. This is evident when the narrator states, “I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me” (Carver 1).

It is human nature to shy away from social situations that make us uncomfortable. Also, as a people with great pride, we often find it difficult to admit when we have been iniquitous, or to allow ourselves to be open to humbling experiences. Sometimes though, it is not entirely due to intolerance that we allow ourselves to make ill-informed judgments. Raymond Carver was a writer with some insight concerning these very ideas. In his short story, “Cathedral,” Carver uses a nameless narrator and his interactions with a blind man to illustrate how a lack of experience can lead to ignorance and thus prejudice. Through the development of this character,

Limiting or removing freedom boils down to control. Those who restrict freedoms wish to exercise control upon those whose freedoms have been infringed. In the story, the restriction of all freedoms is