Raymond Carver’s The Cathedral is narrated by a man formed by his society who has a lesson to learn after meeting his wife’s long lost friend Robert, who is blind. In the beginning of our story our narrator is a close minded and judgmental man, his ill-minded opinions include prejudices against the blind. He assumes that he would have nothing in common with Robert due to the aforementioned prejudice based off of information gathered from movies (Carver 86). The narrator’s routine lifestyle has left him with quite a substance abuse problem whether he acknowles it or not. Every night the narrator comes home, drinks as much scotch as he can, and after his wife goes to sleep he smokes weed for a few hours until heading to bed (Carver 93). When …show more content…
left alone the narrator and Robert begin to bond by watching a documentary on cathedrals. Finally the narrator learns to see in a way his eyes never could while describing the cathedrals to Frank (Stern 1). The two bond and it is assumed that their friendship flourishes. The narrator in Cathedral is often seen as a bad man. Fundamentally, some of his actions could certainly be viewed as mean spirited and hateful; however, it is likely these ideals and his overall behavior stem from his status in the community (Stern 1). As a white man of his time, a certain amount of ignorance is expected to come from our narrator. Carver brings this ignorance to light almost immediately with a few comments about the narrator’s view of blind people, “A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to (Carver 86).”, our narrator announces shamelessly. Despite the fact that this logic is based solely off of movies to an ignorant person it is truth. Upon hearing about Robert’s late wife, the narrator immediately asks if his wife was a Negro (Carver 88). This assumption is based off the prejudice that a white woman would not burden herself with a blind man as a husband (Stern 1). Our narrator then finds himself feeling empathetic for the first time in the story; unfortunately, he feels bad because he believes that since Robert could not see his wife with his eyes, “…She could never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one (Carver 88)” proving the narrator does not understand true love is on the inside and one does not need to see it to experience it. Making her happy by being sweet to her Robert could have shown him being the best husband he could be. Meanwhile, despite having the gift of sight, our narrator is clearly not happy in his own relationship. One of the distinguishing characteristics of the narrator in Cathedral is his unnoticeable substance abuse and other life choices (Stern 1).
The narrator is already throwing back glasses of scotch as the story opens (Carver 86). He continues to do so throughout the entirety of the story. With this in mind, an educated reader can assume this is something the narrator does frequently . In order to bond with Robert, he suggests that they smoke together (Carver 92). This could be interpreted as the narrator attempting to calm his anxiety being alone with Robert. Smoking pot makes him accepting of Robert and grants him the opportunity to learn who Robert is as a person without preconditioned prejudices. The narrator didn’t expect that he and Robert could possibly have things in common, but when Robert begins drinking and smoking alongside him, he realizes that they are not so different (Carver 94). He begins to look past Robert’s loss of sight and begins to feel …show more content…
empathetic. The turning point for our narrator happens when left alone with Robert.
While the two are inebriated, watching a documentary on cathedrals, our narrator attempts to describe it to Robert when the people on the show stop talking (Carver 95). The narrator comes to a sudden realization that there is a solid chance Robert has no idea what a cathedral looks like, “Something has occurred to me. Do you have any idea what a cathedral is? What they look like, that is? (Carver 94)” Robert explains that all he knows about cathedrals is what the tv show is saying. He asks the narrator if he could describe it to him. The narrator attempts to explain, though all he can come up with is “They’re really big (Carver 95)”. Although that statement is not descriptive, Robert continues to listen to him regardless. Robert suggests the narrator attempt to draw a cathedral while he follows along as that would give an overall idea (Carver 96). The two become friends over the experience. One can infer that the narrator will grow from this and become a slightly less awful man living his life with one less
prejudice. The narrator in Raymond Carver’s The Cathedral is often viewed as a bad man when society has formed him into an ignorant confused shell of a man fueled by scotch and marijuana. As a white man in any time period, it is not unusual that the narrator has ill conceived notions about what he does not understand. Somehow, he is surprised that Robert has a beard because blind men in movies do not have beards (Carver 89). A winning personality is complimented by alcohol, keeping him dulled. He has a drink in his hand almost every time he is mentioned (Stern 2). The narrator proves that he can grow from his experiences and put prejudice aside by becoming friends with Robert. His wife wakes up from a nap to find her husband and best friend hanging out and getting along, what a relief to her.
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.
...interracial relationships. However because of the way he acts when he hears about the two of them, it is obvious that he has led a sheltered life. But even after his entire life of not understanding what was going on in the world around him, one night with Robert enlightened him and changed his view on people and his surrounding environment.
The narrator in Raymond Carver’s "Cathedral" is not a particularly sensitive man. I might describe him as self-centered, superficial, and egotistical. And while his actions certainly speak to these points, it is his misunderstanding of the people and the relationships presented to him in this story which show most clearly his tragic flaw: while Robert is physically blind, it is the narrator who cannot clearly see the world around him.
“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.
By becoming close with Robert, the man in this story experienced what was necessary to gain an understanding of what life is like for the blind. The man began to draw the cathedral to try and help Robert visualize what one looked like. What he didn't realize at the time was that Robert was helping him to visualize what blindness felt like. Bibliography: Carver, Raymond. "Cathedral".
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.
...ns up to new possibilities: "Never thought anything like this could happen in your lifetime, did you bub? Well, it's a strange life, we all know that"(P729). This quote shows the narrators limited view on life. By drawing the cathedral with Robert, the narrator's views are expanded and he experiences a revelation. The narrator realizes that he must let go of his insecurity and mental acts of jealousy.
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.
...rs, leaving the narrator and Rob to smoke a joint and watch television. The narrator tells Robert what’s going on in the show and asks him if he knows what a cathedral is, since the show is all about cathedrals. Although the narrator isn’t religious, he draws a cathedral for Robert, allowing his hand to be over his. This would allow him to understand what a cathedral looks like. However, when the wife wakes up and asks what they’re doing, she’s confused when the narrator says they’re drawing a cathedral. Robert asks the narrator to open his eyes, and he never does, claiming he feels weightless, suggesting to himself that he’s reached an epiphany. The narrator’s drawing allows him to see beyond “visibility.” He doesn’t understand exactly what he felt, but he knows it was a meaningful experience. Robert demonstrated that seeing involves a lot more than just looking.
The narrator explains how it is hard for him to describe more of them, because he isn’t religious, so how can someone describe something with embellishment if you don’t believe in it? Robert then asked the narrator if he would like to draw one together. The narrator agrees, when he brings the paper bag to draw on, he describes how Robert is touching the paper, the edges, and the corners. When they both begin to draw, Robert places his hand over the narrator’s and follows, the narrator is in disbelief on what is happening because he never thought anything like this was ever going to happen to him. Robert comes off as a very encouraging man who unconsciously is helping Robert believe in himself by trying something that he’s never been used to doing. The positivity, patience, and great words Robert used towards the narrators’ effort in drawing the cathedral made him want to keep going and he didn’t know exactly why, all he knew was that he couldn’t stop. After a while the narrator closed his eyes and continued to draw, then he opened his eyes to tell Robert how the drawing came out. Surprisingly, the narrator kept his eyes closed and he mentions that although he knew he was home he felt like he was in anything. While remaining with his eyes closed and answering Robert on how the drawing looked like, he then said “It’s really something.” (Carver, 1983). I
The short story "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver is about a woman who has a blind friend who comes to visit her and her husband. Although the husband has, technically, normal vision he is in the beginning of this story the one who is "blind." Through the husband’s words and actions when he is dealing with Robert, the blind man, we can see that the husband does not "see" or understand what Robert’s blindness means or how it changes or does not change him as a human being. At first Robert makes the husband very uncomfortable, for the husband does not know what to say or do around the blind visitor. As the story progresses, we can see a change in the husband; he seems to be able to see Robert as a person and not just as a blind man.
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.