Vision is an ability that is more generally referred to as someone who can see physical objects but the true meaning of vision may have different interpretations. As we see in the story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, the narrator originally interprets blindness as a disability, but by the end of the story, blindness is construed only as an obstacle that lacks the ability to interfere with seeing true beauty. In the story “Cathedral”, Carver shows that blindness is only a title given to those without the physical ability to see but in this story the blind man represents a different way of seeing. The ending of the story also allows for a reconciliation for the narrator as his viewpoints on the blind and his character change dramatically.
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the course of the story the narrator shows a sense of ignorance for the limited views he has on blind people. When the narrator’s wife informs him of the blind man, Robert, the narrator makes a remark that “his being blind bothered me.” (Carver Par. 1). Furthermore, the narrator adds to this comment admitting that his “idea of blindness came from the movies” (Carver Par. 1). These comments made by the narrator show the reader that he has a very stereotypical viewpoint on how blind people live and he does not seem happy about the blind man visiting his home. To the narrator blind people are incapable of performing basic everyday tasks. The narrator expresses these thoughts even though he is ‘blind’ in a sense at the beginning of the story because he says he has never met a blind person. Throughout the story the narrator’s ignorance continues in his conversations with his wife and Robert. A statement made by the narrator to his wife reinforces the idea that he is very inconsiderate toward his wife’s blind friend when the narrator suggests that “Maybe I could take him bowling,” (Carver Par. 7). This is not a sport designed for blind people and we see here that the narrator is certainly making a joke about Robert’s disability. Moreover, it is apparent the narrator has “misguided assumptions about blind people” by his lack of empathy when speaking in his own mind and to the reader (Shmoop Par.4). This lack of empathy comes out quite often to the reader through the thoughts of the narrator and allows for the reader to imagine a negative image of him from the beginning of the story. Robert is pictured as a mysterious man who the narrator does not paint a nice picture of at the start of the story.
However, as the story progresses this image created by the narrator seems to disappear. The background the narrator gives the reader regarding Robert at the beginning of the story is not a flattering one. For instance, the narrator begins talking about a story his wife told him, how when she worked for Robert he asked to touch her face and afterwards she wrote a poem about this encounter. Robert explains to the reader that “She never forgot it” (Carver Par. 2). The narrator goes on to inform the reader that the very next helper the blind man had he ended up marrying. Furthermore, the narrator is presenting the facts about the story in a way that directs the reader to wonder whether his wife and Robert ever had a relationship that was more than just friends. This assumption that the narrator presumes to be correct is later extinguished once the narrator meets the blind man and quickly changes his mind about the matter and realizes that this was only a friend relationship. We see with this aspect that Robert is viewed negatively before the narrator even meets Robert but after meeting him the narrator changes his prejudice views about Robert. During the entire story, we are only given the name of the blind man, Robert. This is unusual because in most stories the characters and names are given out to allow the reader to connect with them more. However, on further …show more content…
review of this analysis we can see the meaning of why only one character is given a name. The writer of this story may be attempting to put more emphasis on Robert to show the contrast between blindness and sight. Most individuals are accustomed to the everyday life of people who can see so by only giving the blind man a name the narrator draws us to consider the blind man’s actions more than the unnamed characters. The narrator expresses an admiration for the blind man that he “had right away located his foods, he knew just where everything was on his plate.” (Carver Par. 45). This certain wonder the narrator shows about the blind man as he flawlessly locates and eats his food is a task where the average person would not receive any praise for doing so. This moment shows not only the reader but also the narrator in the story that Robert is not disabled in anyway that strictly prohibits him from everyday tasks. It is this moment that starts a turning point in the story for the narrator that, Robert, is not as incapable of living a normal life as the narrator had originally thought. A drawing of a Cathedral at the end of story is where Robert and the narrator become united in vision as the narrator’s lack of sight allows him, in a sense, to see clearer.
At the beginning of the story the writer is addressed as unempathetic and at the conclusion of the story, Carver, “stops the story as soon as the narrator experiences empathy.” (McDaniel Par. 2). The importance of ending the story on this note is that the story has now served its purpose. The story shows the progression of empathy of the narrator from a prejudiced individual to a complete fulfilled man. This ending scene of the story is the two men drawing a Cathedral and when the blind man asks the narrator to close his eyes his whole viewpoint is changed. This closing of the eyes, also recognized as a lose of sight, serves as a way for the narrator to experience what the blind man experiences and look past his prejudices and ‘see’ the true beauty of the moment. Alternatively, we also see a dramatic change in the narrator’s views about Robert, which isn’t clearly stated. At the beginning the narrator reflects on his wife’s interaction with Robert touching her face and is evidently very jealous of this touch. This touching from Robert shows up again at the end of the story where “the narrator feels the blind man’s hand on his as he draws the cathedral.” (McDaniel Par. 5). This contrast shows a change in the narrator from the beginning where he believed the interaction with his wife was peculiar, but now
he allows the blind man to feel his hand while he draws the cathedral. Robert helps to change the narrators predetermined beliefs about blind people and aids the narrator in becoming more empathetic by the end of the story. How we see and interpret different things in life can change drastically by time and our experiences. The definition of sight is referred to as a “mental or spiritual perception” (Websters 4.B). In the story “Cathedral”, by Raymond Carver, the mental and spiritual perceptions of sight are both exemplified through the narrator’s interactions with the blind man. The narrator is viewed as an ignorant man at the beginning of the novel, but by the end the narrator shows a reinvented empathetic trait. Throughout the story the narrator shows his physical ability to notice that the blind man is able to complete various tasks which are generally restricted to that of able seeing individuals. It is not until the end that the narrator is influenced to tap into his spiritual sense of sight where he is able to truly ‘see’ the beauty in not only his drawing of the cathedral, but also see the beauty in not being able to physically see. In our world today there are many prejudices placed on certain individuals and it is not until we can experience what these people experience, to be able to ‘see’ through these prejudices.
Carver provides an easy, visual outlook of the protagonist throughout the short story, which helps keep a better understanding during the simple yet intense experience. As the story continues, the protagonist enhances his mood as he aids Robert to visualizing a cathedral. This experience creates an impact on others because it is a great reason to why one should never judge someone of something beyond their controls. Also, helping someone, as Robert does for Bub can be a life changing experience. Despite the blind man being physically blind, the husband is the one with the disability to see from someone else’s perspective. This is proven through his epiphany during his portrayal of being blind. Although Bub is not physically blind, he interprets a shortage of observations. This shows that in many ways he is blinder than Robert. Robert is more open minded and willing to experience things, in contrast to Bub, who is narrow minded and has problems opening up his mind throughout the short story. Because the protagonist does not fully try to understand his wife, it makes him look like the blind person ironically though he can visually recognize her, proving that he does not truly know her inside and out. Knowing her personally is more of reality and the husband is blind to reality. Carver definitely analyzes the protagonist’s emotions through diction and visual aid throughout the story, providing great understanding of the meaning as a
In Cathedral by Raymond Carver, the narrator faces the conflicts of only being able to look from a standard physical viewpoint versus seeing on a deeper more involved emotional level. The story reaches a crisis when the narrator closes his eyes and begins to draw a cathedral, relying only on his imagination to fill in the details, and letting himself be guided by Robert, a blind man. This causes him to see clearly for the first time in his life on a more profound scale, even though in reality he is not actually visibly seeing anything. Therefore, the overall work argues that the narrator succeeds at meeting his challenge. He becomes more complete as a human being, since he realizes that in order to understand and view the world, one does not
Carver writes about three different characters with a focus on the development of the narrator himself. Although the reader never know her name, the narrator’s wife plays a small role in the story. She introduces the reader to the blind man. When the wife is in the room with both of the men, things seem to go wrong between the two men. The narrator seems to be almost nervous and upset with the wife for paying so much attention to the blind
The narrator's insensitivity reveals itself early in the story when his wife's blind friend, Robert, comes for a visit after the death of his wife. Almost immediately in the beginning of the story the narrator admits "A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to." [Carver 2368] He even goes so far as to suggest to his wife that he take the man bowling. He hears the story of Robert's dead wife and can not even imagine " what a pitiful life this woman must have led." [Carver 2370] The narrator is superficial, only recognizing the external part of people and not recognizing the value of a person on the inside.
In the story "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver, the main character, goes through a major personal transformation. At the beginning of the story, his opinions of others are filled with stereotypes, discrimination and prejudice. Through interaction with his wife's blind friend Robert, his attitude and outlook on life changes. Although at first he seemed afraid to associate with a blind man, Robert's outgoing personality left him with virtually no choice. During Robert's visit, he proved to be a normal man, and showed the speaker that by closing his eyes, he could open his mind.
The narrator’s prejudice makes him emotionally blind. His inability to see past Robert’s disability stops him from seeing the reality of any relationship or person in the story. And while he admits some things are simply beyond his understanding, he is unaware he is so completely blind to the reality of the world.
The usage of first person point of view traps the reader within the mind of a character who is closed off and narrow-minded for the duration of the story in such a way that it “tell 's nothing, but shows everything (Messer)” at the same time. In this way, the reader goes through the series of realizations with the narrator which convey the message of blindness in correlation with true sight and a spiritual awakening. For instance, the narrator can only feel pity for Robert’s wife, Beulah, because he was never able to see her. He imagined that Robert 's wife “could, if she wanted, wear green eye-shadow around one eye, a straight pin in her nostril, yellow slacks, and purple shoes” (Mays). However, none of this really matted to Robert, and the narrator finds it utterly pathetic. Yet, the narrator never really understands the fact that he does not really know his own wife, regardless of the fact that he can physically see her. Additionally, within the first paragraph, Carver uses demonstratives and possessives to draw the reader close to the Narrator of the story while also constructing a psychological distance between the narrator and other characters in the story (Peterson). In this paragraph, Carver uses the demonstrative “this” as a word to indicate distance, metaphorically, between the narrator and Robert (Peterson). In particular the sentence, “This blind man, an old friend of my wife 's, he was on his way to spend the night (Mays 33)” demonstrates the use of this as a specific person while showing the distance and dislike the narrator has of Robert. As a result, the narrators prejudice is presented to the reader in a way that shows his blindness as
In Raymond Carver's "Cathedral," the husband's view of blind men is changed when he encounters his wife's long time friend, Robert. His narrow minded views and prejudice thoughts of one stereotype are altered by a single experience he has with Robert. The husband is changed when he thinks he personally sees the blind man's world. Somehow, the blind man breaks through all of the husband's jealousy, incompetence for discernment, and prejudgments in a single moment of understanding.
As a result of his inability to relate with Robert, he thinks his behaviors are odd, and is unable to understand the relationship he has with his wife. His wife worked for this blind man many years ago, reading him reports and case studies, and organizing his "...little office" (Carver 98) in the county's social-service department. He remem¬ bers a story his wife told about the last day she worked for him. The blind man asked her if he could touch her face, and she agreed.
In Raymond Carver’s story “Cathedral” the narrator learns what it means to “see” through someone who cannot. To see is to be able to view the things around us while putting aside preconceived notions or fear about these objects or people. In order for this to occur once must overcome what they feel is out of the ordinary and learn to accept things as they are. At first the narrator is doesn’t accept the man and uncomfortable around Robert. The narrator soon comes to understand this when he puts aside his fears, and judgments that he can see more than what meets the eye, and the freedom that comes along with this seeing.
The irony between Robert and the narrator is that even though Robert is blind, he pays attention to detail without the need of physical vision. Roberts’s relationship with the narrator’s wife is much deeper than what the narrator can understand. Robert takes the time to truly listen to her. “Over the years, she put all kinds of stuff on tapes and sent the tapes off lickety-split. [...] She told him everything, or so it seemed to me” (Carver 124). This demonstrates that the narrator is in fact somewhat jealous of how his wife confides in Robert, but still overlooks the fact that he doesn’t make the slightest effort to pay attention to her. Also the narrator is not precisely blind, but shows a lack of perception and sensitivity that, in many ways, makes him blinder than Robert. Therefore, he has difficulty understanding people’s views and feelings that lie beneath the surface.
Want? -"(P721). By treating everyone generically and denying their importance, the narrator is trying to make himself seem more important in the lives of others. He simply calls his wife's first husband "the officer"(P720) or "the man"(P720). His refusal to even use his wife's name while narrating as well as constantly referring to Robert as the "the blind man"(P720) shows that he has decided to block out the importance of the people around him. He is even less considerate of Roberts wife, whom he refers to as "Beulah, Beulah"(P721). The narrator chooses not to see everyone around him as individuals, but as a whole group. A group he is scared to look at. The narrator's feelings toward Robert are...
... point the strong change in interaction between the two characters. The blind man diligently places his hand on that of Carver and they draw, together. The two are intently drawing the cathedral when Robert asks Carver to keep drawing but with his eyes closed too. He obeys and continues this is the climax of the story for Carver now briefly gets a glimpse of what it is like to live with the ailment of blindness. He is temporarily awed at the feeling for it is one he has obviously never experienced. “It’ really something”, he says (515)
The husband in Raymond Carvers “Cathedral” wasn’t enthusiastic about his wife’s old friend, whom was a blind man coming over to spend the night with them. His wife had kept in touch with the blind man since she worked for him in Seattle years ago. He didn’t know the blind man; he only heard tapes and stories about him. The man being blind bothered him, “My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing-eye dogs. A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to. (Carver 137)” The husband doesn’t suspect his ideas of blind people to be anything else. The husband is already judging what the blind man will be like without even getting to actually know him. It seems he has judged too soon as his ideas of the blind man change and he gets a better understanding of not only the blind man, but his self as well.
Raymond Carver, in his short story Cathedral uses a first-person narrator, whose point of view is very much limited and flawed. The narrator in Cathedral has full use of all his senses, unlike the blind man, Robert, who is introduced very early in the story. When comparing the two again, however, Robert is the character that is open to new ideas and willing to experience the joys of life, while the narrator limits himself due to his close-minded thinking. It brings up the question, who is truly blind in the story? Is it a physical ailment or a mental block? The narrator is never given a name in the story, making him the most impersonal character in the story. This also adds to the fact that the narrator is highly ignorant about his surroundings and has a one-sided, self-absorbed view of the world. The perception of the narrator leaves much to be inferred in many points in the story, and at first, it seems pointless to have such a closed off character and the one telling his point of view. I would like to hear the story from the wife’s point of view or Robert’s. Ultimately, however, the limited point of view of the narrator shows where the true ignorance in the world lies.