The Narrator In Raymond Carver's The Cathedral

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Raymond carver’s shorty story “The Cathedral” is nothing short of a classic, it tells of a story about a very judgmental unnamed narrator who is playing host to one of his wife’s old friends who happens to be blind. Nearing the end of the story the narrator realizes he might have been living life the wrong way not enjoying the simplicity’s of life, thanks to the presence of the blind man being such a gentle, carefree and kind individual. It changes the narrator’s whole perspective on life. Carver uses a lot of good imagery to show the narrators changed perspective. As the narrator is sitting in the living room clutching the pen, and squeezing his eyes shut he is coming over a sudden realization of how he should have been living life the whole time. In the last paragraph it seems that the narrator is having an out of body experience now realizing what life is all about, “I was in my house, I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything. It’s really something” (37). The feeling he is having is something he hasn’t experienced much in his life he is having actual human connection towards another …show more content…

After the narrator fetches the pen and paper for Robert, something clicks with the first human connection between Robert and the narrator. Seems as now he can draw the cathedral with great detail. The narrator states “he couldn’t stop” (37) something has come over the narrator. Before the narrator couldn’t describe the cathedral the same way he didn’t know how to live life. Once he has the connection with Robert he feels a different way, if Robert can live life blind there is no reason for him to be living life wrong. When he is drawing the cathedral in much more detail than he could speak it, “I drew flying buttresses. I hung great door” (37). He is now realizing how he should been living life the whole

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