Raymond Carver Cathedral

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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…

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…

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

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