Comparing Two Dramatic Comedies: Raymond Carver’s Cathedral and Guy de Maupassant’s The Jewelry

A reader looking for a story where there is drama, but still humor will be satisfied with Raymond Carver’s Cathedral and Guy de Maupassant’s The Jewelry. Both have some form of wit developed through a plot structure that appeals to the most common of people. Carver presents a man who is so narrow-minded that he is unable to grasp the idea of knowing a person who is blind. Maupassant creates a story of a man who is blind to the fact of the true actions of his wife and the lies she construed during their marriage. In these two stories the protagonists go through self-discovery, but each experience it in different ways. As such, the plot structures that form the infrastructure of these two tales allow the reader to see that although the two protagonists reached the same conclusions but through different events.

Undoubtedly, the two stories has an interesting piece to it that makes it catchy to readers. In Raymond Carver’s Cathedral, the protagonist who is also the narrator begins the story with introducing the blind man, his wife’s former employer and his expected arrival. The narrator is so simple minded that he formed an idea about this blind man through his stereotypes based on what he has seen in movie flicks. As the husband tells the story, he comes off as a jealous, drunk, and naïve man. The man speaks on his wife’s past speeding past her past marriage, but honing in on her obsession with taping her life and sending it to the blind man. The husband makes fun of the blind man by suggesting to his wife, “Maybe I can take him bowling,” (Par. 8). The husband then goes on to recount the events that took place the night the blind man arrived. The night started off rocky, but as the blind man’s desire to connect with the husband all...

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...woman of his dreams marks the inciting incident and his wife’s passion for “fake” jewelry notes the rising action. The death of Lantin’s wife signifies the climax. The discovery of the authenticity of his wife’s jewels serves as the falling action. The resolution is the lavish lifestyle Lantin takes on with his recently acquired wealth. The conclusion of this story is that the man remarried to woman who made his life miserable. The message of discovery remains prominent in both tales. In the end, the plot structure of the two short stories consist of the same phases but the way each play out occur differently.

Works Cited

Mays, Kelly J. "Cathedral." The Norton Introduction to Literature. 11th ed. New York: W W

Norton &, 2014. 34-46. Print.

Mays, Kelly J. "The Jewelry." The Norton Introduction to Literature. 11th ed. New York: W W

Norton &, 2014. 67-73. Print.