Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” tells the tale of a metaphorically blind man’s experiences when meeting a physically blind man. The short story revolves around a narrow-minded narrator overcoming his assumptions about a stranger who is blind, but more importantly Carver brings to life the difference between “looking” and “seeing” in his short story. He establishes a theme that proclaims intimacy is not just a physical action, but a connection between souls. Cathedral is a realistic tale that lays out how one’s mindset determines one's character.
Carver’s “Cathedral” has many themes that connect to the great overall purpose. The theme of “Cathedral” is to explain the difference between seeing and looking. The narrator automatically judges the
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“blind man” just based on the fact he is physically blind. The narrator soon finds out that he is the one whom is truly blind. True sight refers to when someone can understand what is around them and the emotion bestowed before them. The narrator is only capable of “looking,” he cannot perceive beyond what is physically in front of him, making it extremely hard to have intimacy with his wife beyond physical acts. Another important theme of “Cathedral” is Robert's “the blind man” transformation from the beginning of the tale to the end of the tale.
“Cathedral” takes place over a single night, the transformation of the narrator's character is obvious and quick. The narrator starts off as a selfish character who dislikes the blind man due to the fact that he is blind and a friend of his wife’s, sparking jealousy.
“Cathedral's” over all main theme is in the act of dominance. The narrator senses a deep intimacy between his wife and her blind savior which makes him extremely confused and irritated. He often tries to assert his dominance over Robert by making jokes that target Robert’s disability such as offering to take him bowling. The narrator also is portrayed as a non religious man but is immediate to take charge of the before dining prayer to make his dominance clear.
The most obvious act of dominance is when the narrator’s wife falls asleep while the blind man and the narrator engage in conversation. The wife's robe begins to ride up and instead of her husband covering her up he reveals her legs to exert his masculinity over “the blind man”. As the tale proceeds the blind man’s masculinity begins to surface starting with the observation of his beard. A beard is often a symbol of wisdom, whenever the blind man is thinking he strokes his beard. The narrator later has an epiphany that Robert is truly the more masculine one when he cannot describe the cathedral he can clearly see in front
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of him. Sometimes the weakest man is the more masculine man. Carver establishes a sarcastic, disgusted tone in the narrator's point of view at the beginning of the tale.
It is known from the very first sentence of the story “This blind man, an old friend of my wife’s, he was on his way to spend the night.” (455) the narrator is not enthused about the strangers visit, he even established that it is not a friend of his, but his wife’s. The tone of the narrator automatically expresses that he is a narrow minded character who cannot see more than what is displayed at the surface. …. The narrator also adopts a insecure tone when faced with the obvious intimacy between the narrator’s wife and the blind man. He feels threatened and becomes extremely insecure in his
marriage. The tale’s symbolism combines religious symbols with everyday symbols. This scheme is designed to express the transformation of the narrator over a single night. Carver’s first major symbol is the audio tapes between the narrator's wife and the blind man she brings to visit. The audio tapes act as a form of epistle between the wife and the blind man that symbolize a way to communicate without physically seeing one another, proving that the blind man is a deeper character than just “this blind man”. Religious symbols play a key role in the understanding of Carver’s “Cathedral”. The story of Cathedral is centered around the characters drinking and dining together, giving the characters a sense of communion amongst each other that brings them together. When a major theme is established or tested it is always in the process of the characters sharing amongst themselves. More specifically, the act when the narrator and the blind man share marijuana is the deepest form of communion expressed in Cathedral. During the act of intoxication the senses of the human body begin to blur. It is during this specific scene is where the narrator begins to accept that there is more to “this blind man” than just his “disability”, that intimacy is not just a physical action, but a connection to the soul and one does not have the gift of sight just because he can physically see. The form of intoxication makes the narrator more acceptable to change in perspective. A symbol that is often overlooked in Robert’s late wife. It is stated that Robert’s late wife is of African American ethnicity which might cause colossal controversy in this time period, yet even though Robert is physically blind he is able to “see” his wife not just for her outward
Raymond Carver’s short story “Cathedral” opens with a narrator whose wife has invited a blind friend to spend the night. The narrator depersonalizes the man right off the bat and repeatedly throughout the story by referring to him, not by name, but as “the blind man” (Carver 513). He admits that hi...
The blind man is appealing to readers because of the fact that he proves to be a good friend and listener to the narrator’s wife. The wife and blind man have kept in touch by exchanging audio tapes over the years. The wife feels comfortable sharing all aspects of her life with him. The husband expands on this by saying “She and I began going out, and of course she told her blind man about it” (5). This quote proves that the blind man provides a sense of comfort to the wife who cannot find the same sense of security in her own husband. The blind man is friendly and makes an attempt to befriend the husband even though he is consistently rude to him. The blind man tells the narrator he will stay up with him to talk even after his wife has gone to sleep. He says he feels “like me and her monopolized the evening” (83). The blind man respectfully says to the narrator “[y]ou’re my host” and wants to be fair and make sure the husband doesn’t feel left out during his visit (102). He is also very understanding and patient with the husband. This characteristic is especially proven when the narrator tries, but fails at explaining the appearance of a cathedral to the blind man. He apologizes for not doing a good job. The blind man understands and reassures him by saying “I get it, bub. It’s okay. It happens. Don’t worry about it” (110). He is aware that his
The close outside friendship between the narrator’s wife and Robert, the blind man, provokes the narrator’s insecurities. This friendship has lasted for ten long years. During those years, they have exchanged countless voice tapes wherein they both tell each other what has happened in their respective lives. Because of this, the narrator feels that his wife has told Robert more than Robert needs to know. The narrator laments, "she told him everything or so it seemed to me" (1054). The narrator’s fear is somehow confirmed when Robert arrives and says that he feels like they have already met (1055). The narrator is left wondering what his wife has disclosed. This murky situation leaves the narrator feeling insecure, especially when he sees the warm interaction between his wife and Robert.
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
The short story, “Cathedral,” by Raymond Carver, is about a blind man who changes the way the narrator views life by giving him some insight on how he sees things. The characters in this short story are constantly developing into better versions of themselves by sharing their insights with one another.
Upon reading Raymond Carver's short story of the Cathedral one will notice the literary devices used in the short story. When analyzing the story completely, one then understands the themes, motifs, metaphors, and the overall point of the piece. This leaves the reader with an appreciation of the story and a feeling of complete satisfaction.
At first glance, one might assume Raymond Carver’s "Cathedral" illustrates the awakening of an insensitive and insulated husband to the world of a blind man. However, this literal awakening does not account for the fact that the husband awakens also to a world of religious insight, of which he has also been blind. The title and story structure are the first indicators of the importance of the religious thesis. It is also revealed when one examines the language and actions of the characters in the story. Finally, Carver’s previous and subsequent writings give an overall background for the argument that "Cathedral" has a significant religious import.
The narrator’s reaction to Robert’s individuality shows his stereotypical views. The narrator assumed Robert did not do certain things, just because he was blind. When he first saw Robert his reaction was simple: "This blind man, feature this, he was wearing a full beard! A beard on a blind man! Too much, I say" (Carver 1055). When Robert smokes a cigarette, the narrator thinks, "I . . . read somewhere that the blind didn’t smoke because, as speculation had it, they c...
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.
This story is about how the narrator is unable to see what life is really giving him and finds it through a blind man’s eyes, the friend of his wife. Cathedral is a touching story, in my opinion, as it reflects on what many of us, society, take for granted. It shows how important it is to give people a chance and to be able to see the true meaning of what surrounds us even if it is not important to our personal life. Throughout the short story, Carver uses several figurative language to expose the theme of the story.
Raymond Carver's "Cathedral" depicted the interaction between a narrow minded husband, with a limited understanding of the world around him, and a blind visitor, named Robert, that proved to be the catalyst that dramatically changed the husband's view on the world, while they went from being strangers to becoming friends. In the beginning of the story, the husband disliked the concept of his wife bringing her blind friend over to stay since he never had met a blind person before and did not understand it. However, as the story progresses, the husband, through interaction and observation, begins to dispel his fears and misconceptions of Robert and his blindness. With the help of Robert, the husband gains a revelation that changed his view and opened his eyes to the world.
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.
He constantly complains that “a blind man in my house was not something [he looked] forward to” (362). The close friendship between the narrator’s wife and Robert provokes his insecurities. This friendship has lasted for ten years and during those years, they have exchanged countless tapes regarding experiences they have gone through. Because of this, her husband feels “she [has] told him everything or it seems” (363) about their relationship. Upon the arrival of his wife’s friend, the husband is ultimately uncomfortable around Robert because he does not know how to communicate with or act around him.
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.