Raymond Carver Cathedral Essay

A relationship is more than something physical. In fact, there are several types of intimacy: mental, emotional, and physical. In Raymond Carver’s short story called “Cathedral”, the narrator is not familiar to any but the last listed. He consequently distanced himself from others, including his wife because he does not take the initiative to be mentally invested in any discussions. This makes the narrator isolated, incapable of empathy or to understand others’ perspectives. This characteristic has an adverse effect on his social life and in his relationship with his wife, who is unnamed in the story. Moreover, it distorts his view of relationships. A theme that’s present in the story is for one to know, i.e. to empathize with someone, he or

As a result, it affects the way one views someone or something, and most of the time, it causes misinterpretations and flawed preconceptions like the narrator perceptions of relationships. The narrator does not consider all the facts because he only listens to what he wants to hear. Therefore, the narrator is more likely to make false assumptions like his ridicule of Beulah and Robert’s relationship. When the narrator’s wife tells him about Robert and Beulah’s marriage, he felt pitiful for Beulah.
A woman who could go on day after day and never receive the smallest compliment from her beloved. A woman whose husband could never read the expression on her face, be it misery or something better… her last thought maybe this: that he will never know what she looked like. (439)
The narrator’s criticism of Robert’s marriage reveals he misapprehends the meaning of a true relationship, which unlike his own is beyond physical intimacy. He has yet to experience the emotional, intellectual intimacy, which is inhibited from his dismissiveness trait. Consequently, he is unable to understand Robert’s marriage. Inconsidering other opinions means one have yet to hear the full course of the story, and as a consequence, it leads to flawed

He lacks empathy. To say it in another way, he is unable to relate and understand those who surrounds him. His detachment or isolation is more obvious when Robert asks him to describe cathedrals. He struggles to and admits, “cathedrals don’t mean anything special to me. Nothing…They’re something to look at on late-night TV. That’s all they are” (444). Some may argue it is through isolation that leads the narrator to the transcendent moment. Although he feels isolate from the physical world, this can not be achieve without coming in union with the drawing. The narrator reaches transcendence through the unification with his drawing of the cathedral, and his action of blindly drawing the cathedral demonstrate so (445). Essentially I am arguing that he experiences an epiphany by finally gaining the ability to understand the true meaning of a cathedral. This can not be achieved if the narrator had no mental engagement. He reaches self-realization by, specifically, listening to the instructions and participating in the activity that Robert proposes. In other words, he is actively engage in the conversation and the exercise, contrasting from his prior conversations with Robert during then he does not give more than four words responses (440). He makes an effort to consider what is said, which is illustrated by him running in order to get the pen and paper for the exercise (444). The