Symbolism In �cathedral By Raymond Carver

In the short story, Cathedral by Raymond Carver, the word “blind” acquires different meanings. The unnamed narrator is metaphorically blind; he can look at the surface of everything but not see what is inside. Although the narrator can listen to conversations, he cannot understand the deeper emotional context the conversation might hold, compared to Robert, who is visually impaired but can truly listen and understand. It is not until the end of the story that the narrator metaphorically opens his eyes, with assistance from Robert.

Although the two men have very different situations, their blindness helps them to see what child of theirs was really there for them and who wasn’t in the end. What the whole theme of blindness really comes down to is the fact that both men needed to be blind in order to really know anything about the loyalty and dedication of their family members. The similarities between the plot and subplot deepen the story of the play, and overall give readers and viewers multiple parallels to figure out and connect together, making it more interesting to read and/or watch the

Raymond Carver employs many symbols within “Cathedral” to associate the significant objects in the story to their meaningful effects on the main characters. The narrator’s wife and Robert “made tapes and mailed them back and forth” and the narrator’s wife would “put all kinds of stuff on [these] tapes” regarding her life (pp.36-37). Such audiotapes symbolize the support and understanding of another individual, especially the blind man, as the narrator’s wife is unable to express her genuine thoughts and feelings to anyone else, which results in a build-up in negative emotions that are released through such a therapeutic action. After the death of Robert’s wife, Beulah, he was left with “a half of a twenty-peso Mexican coin” to which the “other half of the coin went into the box with her” (pp. 37). This coin symbolizes the strong marriage and relationship blind man and his wife shared, which cannot even by broken by one’s death as each of them hold a piece, the half of the coin, of a reminder of their undying love. While watching television, the narrator is asked by the blind man to “describe [a cathedral] to [him]” to which the narrator is dumbfounded by his inability to depict of one (pp.43). Nevertheless, the blind man persists and requests that they “draw one together” to which the narrator designates the experience “like nothing else in [his] life up to now” as he closes his eyes (pp.44-45). Prior to drawing the cathedral, the narrator’s unsuccessful depiction of one shows how even though he has the ability to physically see a cathedral, he lacks the ability to see beyond the surface and grasp a deeper understanding. However, drawing the cathedral with his eyes closed signifies how the narrator is “seeing” the cathedral from the blind man’s perspective, which is more detailed and comprehensive, even though Robert lacks the ability to see. Through the embedded symbols of the audiotapes, the coin, and the cathedral, the audience can see how such trivial objects can significantly impact each of the character’s lives.

When one visualizes a prophet or a messiah, the common image is a man in a pure white robe holding a dove or an old man with a staff and scraggly clothes. However, how often does a man in brown slacks and a sports coat come to mind? After reading Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral,” such an image may certainly appear more often, especially when thinking about the character Robert. In “Cathedral,” Robert the blind man is portrayed as a spiritual guide to the narrator through character and plot development. Robert is portrayed as a spiritual guide through the use of the blind seer motif.

The ability a person has to see is crucially taken for granted, as in “Cathedral” it is about two men who are blind, one physically, the other is psychologically blind. I have an almost complete disregard of precedent, and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things have always been done. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I go for anything new that might improve the past(Clara Barton).

A strange looking old man, which his appearance of a seraph and a human being portrayed in Gabriel Garcia Marquez ‘s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” and Raymond Carver’s short-story “Cathedral” has all humanoid characteristics but only one weakness. He is blind. Both Cathedral and A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings have similarities and differences, such as, Theme, Symbolism and conflict.

Symbolism: a way for the author to help the reader relate to everyday actions and items that may be common but unnoticed to us. Symbolism is an important part of a book because it provides a deeper meaning of things, gives a theme and gives the reader a way to relate to the book with everyday possessions/actions in life. For example a person might relate to it because they might argue with someone about an object when there is something more meaningful to what it really is. There is a bigger picture. What would a book be if there was no symbolism?

During the exposition, the narrator shows that he has no problems with eyesight and he is capable of looking. The narrator is not blind and thinks that because he can see he is better than Robert. Because of Robert’s physical blindness the narrator thinks that he is not able to have any kind of normal life. The narrator believes that the ability to see is everything, and puts no effort into looking and seeing anything beyond the surface. He looks at his house, wife, television, and at Robert when he arrives. How ironic is it that Robert, the blind man, has the ability to see on a much deeper level than the narrator? For example, even though Robert cannot physically see the narrator’s wife, he understands her a lot more than her husband. He has truly listened to her during the past ten years on the audiotapes she sends him. The only interactions shown between the narrator, the protagonist, and his wife are short exchanges in which he seems to get on her nerves. It is demonstrated in this conflict by Robert, the antagonist, that seeing involves a lot more than just looking.

Symbolism plays a big role in the short story by Raymond Carver because only towards the end of the story we find out why the story is called “Cathedral.” The short story is called “Cathedral” because as the narrator and Robert, the blind man, are watching television Robert asks the narrator to describe him what a cathedral looks like since he has never been able to see one. However, because the narrator stated that he does not believe in something in particular, to him a cathedral is just a building that took about a hundred years to build and that they are very big and made of stone. But because Robert is not physically capable of seeing one for himself, the narrators description isn't helping too much. Then Robert had given the suggestion

The theme of “Cathedral” was a mystery to me until the very end of the story. The emotional feelings I had while reading the story change from the beginning to the end. The narrator projected a mixture of energy in tell the story, and at the end of the story it was still ambiguous. In the beginning the narrator acted very childish about the fact that Robert (the blind man) was coming to visit his wife and him. Even though his if fully aware of the details of his wife past he still became jealous with the idea of Robert coming to visit. The wife wasn’t happy with the way the husband reacted, nor was she pleased with him prejudging Robert wife who had passed without ever meeting her at all. When Robert finally came over and broke the ice between

When writing a story, the author always puts certain element into the story that will put one thing that represent story, these element helps create meaning and emotion in a story. These elements are call symbolism. Symbols are used to signify the theme of the story or the main idea.

Symbolism is a technique that is greatly valued in many short stories, the literary device is used to try and express a deeper meaning to the story as opposed to just telling the story plain, simple and to the point. In my opinion, because short stories are short enough to be read in just one sitting, symbolism is an essential aspect to short stories because it delivers meaning quite rapidly to the text. Edgar Allen Poe proves this to us in his short stories, “The Masque of the Red Death” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”. In Poe’s work, the use of symbols is central to the stories, and it is obvious, especially in Poe’s work that short stories do in fact, value symbol over plot.

In Raymond Carver's story “Cathedral” the main character happens to be the narrator, he lives with his wife, and is a genuine introvert, and self centered person. His wife has invited her best friend Robert, who happens to be blind, to come stay the night in their house while he is traveling to see his in-laws due to his wife's death. Being the type of person Robert is he wants to show “Bub” how being different is not a negative thing. It is time for the narrator to undergo a remarkable transformation. Just because someone has always lived so narrow-minded, narcissistic, and self-indulgent does not mean an extraordinary individual who has lived quite the opposite lifestyle, cannot possess the power to entirely modify their outlook on the world.

There is a myriad of themes in this story. One of the more prevalent themes we see throughout this story is transformation. Though “Cathedral” takes place over the course of one night, we see a variety of transformations. Perhaps, the greatest and most notable transformation takes place in Bub. As the story begins Bub is cold towards Robert and reluctant to get

Just like in the previous chapter, the author has discussed the importance of physical disabilities. In this chapter, the author states that a character being blind is a lot more than a disability. For a character to be blind, it could mean that his other senses are greater than that of a regular person or it could symbolize the character’s blindness to a problem or their ignorance. Their blindness could also be a representation of themselves as a whole. For a writer to give a character this disability, they are trying to get a deeper point across to the readers. The author in this chapter used different examples in which a blind character was more than just a blind character. Blindness is not just blindness in works of literature. Just like