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Symbolism of the cathedral in Cathedral by Carver
Symbolism of cathedral by raymond
Symbolism of cathedral by raymond
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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. 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
man. Throughout their reunion, the wife seems to be angry with her husband for the rude comments he continues to make. Once she decides to go to sleep, the story develops more quickly. The relationship between the blind man and the narrator seems to flourish, while the wife’s part in the story is almost irrelevant. The narrator at first is bothered by the relationship his wife has with the blind man, Robert. “I heard my own name in the mouth of this stranger, this blind man I didn’t even know” (Carver 238). This is a quote from the narrator that explains not only his discrimination towards the blind man, but also how uncomfortable he felt that his wife was still in communication with this man from her past. Throughout the story, one sees the way the narrator acts towards the blind man. Constantly making jokes about the view or about taking the blind man out to bowl. The narrator seems to be stereotypical in the way he views the blind man. At one point, the narrator talks about how he wishes the blind man actually wore glasses. Normally when one thinks of a blind person, one thinks of the walking stick and dark glasses, which is what the narrator expected to see. Robert, at the very beginning of the story, touches the narrator’s wife’s face. “She never forgot it” (Carver 237), this shows the importance the blind man held in the wife’s life. Oddly enough, Robert tells the narrator that he feels as if they had already met. Carver uses this as a way of explaining how the blind man pictured the narrator by simply hearing about him in the tapes. Unlike “normal” blind people, Robert does many risky activities such as smoking cigarettes, smoking cannabis, watching television, and drinking alcohol. Blind people, typically can’t, or shouldn’t, smoke because they can’t see how quickly the cigarette is burning out, but Robert seems to know exactly when to stop smoking, as if he could see the cigarette. The character has clearly learned to live, accept and adapt to his blindness. The connection between the blind man and the narrator’s wife is what creates this story. They seem to have a strong relationship, even after so many years. Once the narrator meets the blind man, he seems to feel uncomfortable. When the narrator and Robert are left alone, they are forced to interact, but ultimately end up having a stronger connection. Although both characters seem to learn from each other, the narrator seems to have gained more knowledge from the blind man than the blind man from the narrator.
In the short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, the narrator, Bub, is as metaphorically blind as his guest, Robert, is literally blind. Bub has many unwarranted misconceptions about life, blind people in particular. He also has many insecurities that prevent him from getting too close to people. Through his interaction with Robert, Bub is able to open his mind and let go of his self-doubt for a moment and see the world in a different light.
The narrator's insensitivity reveals itself early in the story when his wife's blind friend, Robert, comes for a visit after the death of his wife. Almost immediately in the beginning of the story the narrator admits "A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to." [Carver 2368] He even goes so far as to suggest to his wife that he take the man bowling. He hears the story of Robert's dead wife and can not even imagine " what a pitiful life this woman must have led." [Carver 2370] The narrator is superficial, only recognizing the external part of people and not recognizing the value of a person on the inside.
Carver tells the story in first person of a narrator married to his wife. Problems occur when she wants a friend of hers, an old blind man, to visit for a while because his wife has died. The narrator's wife used to work for the blind man in Seattle when the couple was financial insecure and needed extra money. The setting here is important, because Seattle is associated with rain, and rain symbolically represents a cleansing or change. This alludes to the drastic change in the narrator in the end of the story. The wife and blind man kept in touch over the years by sending each other tape recordings of their voices which the narrator refers it to being his wife's "chief means or recreation" (pg 581).
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.
The point of view from the narrators perspective, highlights how self-absorbed and narrow-minded he is. “They’d married, lived and worked together, slept together—had sex, sure—and then the blind man had to bury her. All this without his having ever seen what the goddamned woman looked like. It was beyond my understanding” (Carver...
In Raymond Carver’s story, “Cathedral,” the story tells of how a close outside relationship can threaten a marriage by provoking insecurities, aggravating communication barriers, and creating feelings of invasion of privacy. The husband in the story is given the gift of seeing the cathedral through a blind man’s eyes. Although the title suggests that the story is about a cathedral, it is really about two men who come together and share a vision and realize it is he who is blind.
Throughout the majority of the story Carver uses a variety of devices to portray the narrator negatively. One reason is that he lacks compassion. At the beginning of the story he says, "I wasn?t enthusiastic about his [the blind man?s] visit. He [the blind man] was no one I knew. And his [the blind man] being blind bothered me."
In literature, blindness serves a general significant meaning of the absence of knowledge and insight. In life, physical blindness usually represents an inability or handicap, and those people afflicted with it are pitied. The act of being blind can set limitations on the human mind, thus causing their perception of reality to dramatically change in ways that can cause fear, personal insecurities, and eternal isolation. However, “Cathedral” utilizes blindness as an opportunity to expand outside those limits and exceed boundaries that can produce a compelling, internal change within an individual’s life. Those who have the ability of sight are able to examine and interpret their surroundings differently than those who are physically unable to see. Carver suggests an idea that sight and blindness offer two different perceptions of reality that can challenge and ultimately teach an individual to appreciate the powerful significance of truly seeing without seeing. Therefore, Raymond Carver passionately emphasizes a message that introduces blindness as not a setback, but a valuable gift that can offer a lesson of appreciation and acceptance toward viewing the world in a more open-minded perspective.
The unnamed narrator of Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” poses as an unreliable narrator for his unaccepting nature towards blind people along with his ignorant perception of many realities in his life that Carver presents for the reader to take into question. The narrator holds prejudice against Robert, a blind man whom the narrator’s wife worked with ten years earlier and eventually befriends. Unperceptive to many of the actualities in his own life, the narrator paints an inaccurate picture of Robert that he will soon find to be far from the truth.
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.
“Cathedral” by Raymond Carver is a story of man who experiences the gift of insight in an unexpected manner. The narrator is first introduced to the reader as an insensitive and ignorant man, however, after analysing his relationship with his wife and witnessing how he connects with the blind man, our empathy for him is touched. The narrator is not as insensitive as he perceives. He only acts insensitive to cover up how damaged he really is. He is unable to relax because of the company of his manipulative wife. The narrator’s wife acts as the antagonist in the story given how she tries to control the narrator and how she is unable to understand her husband.
From beginning to the end of the story there are significant events that inhibit the evolution of the narrator. Carver starts off with the negative feelings that the nameless narrator has towards the arrival of the blind man, Robert. Stating “I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew.
Raymond Carver’s short story “Cathedral” shows that you can be judgmental against the blind but for example, in the main character’s case, can turn out to be you friend too. In his story, there is a lot of evidence of how society perceives people with disabilities. The main character begins by having the ablest point of view towards his wife’s friend. However, he soon finds out through his epiphany that the “blind man” is not different than he is. This essay will argue that “Cathedral” uses the narrator’s epiphany to shows how throughout the story people can overcome their ableism point of view. The contemporary relevance of this issue is reflected in the sources “Why Do We Fear the Blind” and “Feeling My Way Through Blindness” in that it gives