Cathedral By Raymond Carver Analysis

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Who Do We Truly Care About?
In the short fictional story Cathedral, there is a controversy that Robert is disliked by the main character whom he names “Bub” because of his perception that blind people do not have a purposeful life anymore and they do not share experiences that non-disabled humans share. Raymond Carver uses Robert as evidence to show that society tends to prejudge blind people and treat them like they are not humans, while in fact we all have similarities in life.
In the beginning of the story it is known that Robert lost his wife to cancer and he is going to visit his in-law’s in Connecticut then head to Seattle to spend time with Bub and his wife, whom he’s been friends with for years. Once Bub first got word of this he instantly …show more content…

He also confesses that after his wife goes to sleep all he does is smoke and stay up late as he can and even then, he can’t sleep because he has nightmares. It seems that after these confessions were announced, it seems that he’s not living a happy life even though he’s married and have his own house. Bub did not display some type of comfortable interaction with Robert until they shared a drink and he begun talking about his life stories, that is where relativity produced a bond. It seemed that Bub longed for this meaningful interaction even though he has a wife. We may not share visual senses with blind people, but our social and psychological needs are the ones that we do share. In society we all have problems with life because its constantly changing and it includes failed interactions. There are some blind people today who feel lonely and have no one to accompany them while they are at their lowest low, but much like non-disabled humans, we just don’t let it show. If we realize it or not, we all want to be loved and sex won’t always get that job done. As a society, we must stop labeling people before we ever get a chance to know them because we could literally save their lives, or they can save …show more content…

After Bub’s wife fell asleep they begun bonding over a random cathedral program on TV and a smoke session. This showed a real void of companionship that Bub was missing, but in an unexpected way of someone with a disability providing this comfort to someone who has things that society would consider prosperous; a house and a wife. Robert literally took time to help him “see life in his eyes” by helping him draw a cathedral. Most importantly, Bub began to see the beauty of diversity and started to embrace it. Although, this was a tough task he eventually had a revelation that humans are humans regardless of what’s missing. We can strive and be happy as citizens if we understand the fact that we all can provide a piece to the puzzle of our lives that we have searched for in the wrong

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