Cathedral

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Cathedral

The story is about a blind man who visits a married couple. He is an old friend of the wife, but the husband does not look forward to see the blind man (called Robert) because he does not know what to expect. He has never known any blind persons and his picture of these is based on a very little foundation. He has a lot of prejudices against Robert, but during his visit he changes his opinion about him. While watching TV together they get each other to know better and the husband finds out that he actually likes his company. They watch a program about cathedrals and while talking about cathedrals, Robert says that he does not even know how a cathedral looks like. The husband tries to explain what a cathedral is and how it is built, but Robert does not understand it. Therefore he suggests that they can draw one together. In that way Robert gets a picture of a cathedral in his mind and even though it is not as good as seeing it with his own eyes, it is good enough to give him an idea of what a cathedral is.
I think there are may different themes in this short story. For instance, I think that prejudices is one of the main themes which is shown through the husband’s way of react, when he hears that a blind man is coming. Because he does not know what to expect, he imagines a man, totally different, who does not have the same habits or knows the same thing as “normal'; people.
“I remembered having read somewhere that the blind did not sm...

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