When first reading the title of the short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver you would believe that it is nothing more than just that, a religious building built many years ago. As you go about reading this story it starts off with a man and his wife (that the writer never discloses their names) and the wife has and old friend that is going to be stopping by to stay with them for a night. The man just happens to be blind and the husband takes great offense to that. He is unable to understand her relationship with the blind man and does not want him in his house at all. In the first half of the story the husband is very uncomfortable with him there and for the longest time does not speak at all while his wife and the blind man talk. The husband …show more content…
severely judges the blind man in that he cannot see so that means he must be beneath him until the blind man asks him to describe a cathedral that the husband sees on the television. The husband gets very frustrated because he cannot describe what a cathedral is and the blind man asks him to draw a picture of it and this event changes the husband emotionally in an important way and he shows the readers this by being the first person narrator of the story. The drawing of the cathedral comes to be the main point in the story as well as the climax.
Before the cathedral come on the television the husband sat very quiet and allowed his wife and the blind man to talk, “For the most part, I just listened. Now and then I joined in.” (pg 40) He felt as if he did not fit into the conversation with his wife and the blind man because he was not a part of their life many years ago. As the night goes on they smoke some cannabis and sip on Scotch and the wife falls asleep on the couch in between them. At this, the husband is unhappy about and he says, “I wish my wife hadn’t pooped out.” (pg 42) The reason he wishes his wife was still awake was because he did not especially want to talk to the blind man. He tries to come up with something to talk about so he starts telling the old man about what is on the television, “There were times when the Englishman who was telling the thing would shut up, would simply let the camera move around over the cathedrals.” (pg 43) At that point, he tries to explain to the blind man what a cathedral is and does so unsuccessfully and gets very flustered. He finally says that, “The truth is, cathedrals don’t mean anything special to me. Nothing. Cathedrals. They’re something to look at on late-night TV. That’s all they are.” (pg 45) That is when the blind man asks a very odd question to the husband but that question leads to one of the most meaningful events in the husband’s …show more content…
life. The blind man says, “Hey listen to me. Will you do me a favor? I got an idea. Why don’t you find us some heavy paper? And a pen. We’ll do something. We’ll draw one together.” (pg 45) When the blind man asks this the husband says his legs feel heavy as he climbs the stairs to his wife’s room to find a pen and he finds a bag that had onions in it in the kitchen and they use that as the heavy paper. He walks back into the living room and sat it down on the coffee table. Then the blind man scoots off the couch and sits on the carpet next to the husband. He puts his hand around the husband’s hand and tells him to start to draw. This act of him drawing with the blind man is very important to the husband he realizes that even though the blind man is not capable of having visual sight he has a theoretical sight that allows him to see anything in his mind and be free to think anything and imagine everything he wants. The husband at that moment realizes how he has isolated himself from everyone and everything that he has ever come in contact with. As the husband realizes that this is the blind man had more intellectual and emotional sight that he could ever even dream about having it broke down some of his psychological walls.
He realizes that blind man is trying to show him the depth of reality that can be achieved if worked at hard enough. The blind man asks the husband to keep drawing and he does but when the blind man tells him to open his eyes he says that he does but he does not really open them. He sits there wit his eyes closed and tells the blind man that he sees what he has drawn and that it is magnificent. What the husband really means when he says this is that what the blind man has emotionally done for him is great. He feels no need to judge the blind man any more or anyone else for that matter as well as men from his wife’s past that is brought up early on in the short
story. The husband thinks, “My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was indies anything.” (pg 46) This is when the husband realizes that he is free from feeling like he lives a boring average life. He then realizes that life is so much more than what the eye can physically see. He shows every emotion he experiences throughout the story. The husband is the narrator of the story and it is all told from his point of view, which in the case of this story is very important. With the husband being the narrator of the story you get to see every thought he has and feel every emotion he feels, starting from disgust and unhappiness and leading to openness and thoughtfulness. He starts off the story being very annoyed and judgmental that his wife’s husband is blind and does not want him anywhere near him because blind people creeped him out. By the end of the story, he accepts the blind man for who he really is and appreciates him for helping him realize how isolated he had made himself from the world and allowing him to open up and break down his walls by just showing the blind man what a cathedral was by drawing it.
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 story is about a blind man who visits a married couple. He is an old friend of the wife, but the husband does not look forward to see the blind man (called Robert) because he does not know what to expect. He has never known any blind persons and his picture of these is based on a very little foundation. He has a lot of prejudices against Robert, but during his visit he changes his opinion about him. While watching TV together they get each other to know better and the husband finds out that he actually likes his company. They watch a program about cathedrals and while talking about cathedrals, Robert says that he does not even know how a cathedral looks like. The husband tries to explain what a cathedral is and how it is built, but Robert does not understand it. Therefore he suggests that they can draw one together. In that way Robert gets a picture of a cathedral in his mind and even though it is not as good as seeing it with his own eyes, it is good enough to give him an idea of what a cathedral is.
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
Adding to the obvious structural references to cathedrals and religion, the language and character actions present further evidence of an epiphany of divine proportions. The television program which the characters watch together deals entirely with cathedrals. This spurs the first real conversation between the narrator and the blind man. This presents religion as some form of common ground, on which one could stand, even without sight. When first asked by Robert, the blind man, if he was "in any way religious," the narrator asserts that he is not, and goes on to explain how cathedrals and religion "don’t mean any...
“Cathedral,” a short story written by Raymond Carver, presents an intriguing story of an ignorant man 's lesson. During this story, Carver 's working class characters are crushed by broken marriages, financial issues, and fulfilling jobs, but they are frequently unable to understand or communicate their own sufferings. However, the main story consists of the narrator, known as “Bub,” facing an internal conflict about a blind man named Robert staying the night in his home. Regardless of the fact that this blind man is his wife 's long time friend, the narrator cannot find himself comfortable with such an idea because of his extreme prejudices. Although, despite the narrator’s conflict he finds himself connecting to Robert on a more personal
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.
Blindness in Raymond Carver's Cathedral Blindness creates a world of obscurity only to be overcome with guidance from someone willing to become intimate with the blind. Equally true, the perceptions of blindness can only be overcome when the blind allow intimacy with the sighted. Raymond Carver, with his short story Cathedral, illustrates this point through the eyes of a man who will be spending an evening with a blind man, Robert, for the first time. Not only does this man not know Robert, but his being blind, "bothered" (Carver 98) him.
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.
...l of open-mindedness. “Cathedral” concerns the change in one man’s understanding of himself and the world. From the start of the story the narrator is restricted in his understanding to accept the blind man just as his wife has. He cannot fully wrap around the idea of what makes Robert so special. Until, that is, that the narrator starts drawing the cathedral which starts off as a house almost, and expands into something grander. This short story allows us to realize that the world is greater and further detailed than what we consider it in our confined minds. And that in fact we should never assume that there is nothing more to what the eye can see. It simply states that we shouldn’t form an opinion on someone or something based only on what you see on the exterior, because usually after taking the time to explore, the person or thing will not be what you expected.
The limitations that were holding the narrator back were abolished through a process from which a blind man, in some sense, cured a physically healthy man. The blind man cured the narrator of these limitations, and opened him up to a whole world of new possibilities. Robert enabled the narrator to view the world in a whole new way, a way without the heavy weights of prejudice, jealousy, and insecurity holding him down. The blind man shows the narrator how to see.
Raymond Carver’s short story, “Cathedral,” portrays a story in which many in today’s society can relate. We are introduced from the first sentence of the story to a man that seems to be perturbed and agitated. As readers, we are initially unsure to the reasoning’s behind the man’s discomfort. The man, who seems to be a direct portrayal of Raymond Carver himself, shows his ignorance by stereotyping a blind man by the name of Robert, who has come to stay with he and his wife. From the very beginning, Carver shows his detest for Robert but over the course of the story eases into comfort with him and in the end is taught a lesson from the very one he despised.
The narrator, his wife, and the blind man spend the evening talking, but eventually the wife falls asleep. The narrator is uncomfortable about being left alone with a blind man. There is something about cathedrals on TV and the blind man asks the narrator to describe what a cathedral looks like. The narrator only describes physical things and so the blind man decides that they should try drawing one instead. As they draw the blind man and the narrator connect and a transformation in the narrator?s character takes place.
The short story of the “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver shows the narrator as the main character of the story whose name is never mentioned. The narrator’s wife’s name is never mentioned as well, and her friend who is a blind man is coming to visit after losing his wife whose name is Robert. In the beginning of the story, the narrator shows that he is an excessive drinker and feels emotionally disconnected from his wife and his wife is excited about her friends visit, Robert. This kind of emotion makes him uneasy but doesn’t know why and because he knows that Robert is blind, he feels like he is better than him. Imagine having to meet a long time old friend of your spouse of the opposite sex who they a special friendship with and whom you haven’t
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.
As “Cathedral” begins, the narrator speaks in a very conversational tone, he starts showing signs of his own blindness when he doesn’t understand why his wife writes poems. He says, “I didn’t think much of the poem. Of course, I didn’t tell her that. Maybe I just don’t understand poetry” (200). He continues his misunderstandings with other concepts such as believing in religion