Who Is The Narrator In Raymond Caver's Cathedral

There are times when people tend to go throughout each day without truly paying attention. Whether that be to their surroundings, other people, or just the things they experience along the way. In other words, people “go through the motions.” In Raymond Caver’s “Cathedral,” a narrator of limited awareness of himself and of others tells a story.
During the beginning part of this story, the narrator came out and said that he wasn’t looking forward to the visitor coming and staying in his house. Who is this visitor? His name is Robert. There’s something interesting about Robert though, he is blind.
Robert is an old friend of the narrator’s wife. They met one summer in Seattle. She, the wife, was looking for a job in order to make some money.

She found an ad in the paper and called Robert. She went over and was hired. As she was working for him they began to build a relationship. This relationship would end up continuing for years to come.
The wife and Robert always seemed to keep in touch.

One night, she called him and they talked for a while. Robert had asked her to send him a tape (recording) of her telling him all about her life. She agreed, and after she sent one Robert sent one back. They continued to do this over the years.
After Robert’s wife dies he called the narrator’s wife from his in-laws’. They made arrangements and soon Robert would be on a train. He was going to come for a visit. This is the part where he narrator wasn’t thrilled about a blind man coming to stay. He said, “And his being blind bothered me,” (Carver 305) as well as, “My idea of blindness came from the movies.” (Carver 305) The fact that the narrator relies on the movies for his idea of blindness shows his lack of awareness. This is the main theme within this story.
Once Robert finally arrived, the wife made him feel very welcome. The narrator, on the other hand, remained quiet. After a while they ate dinner and then sat in the living room together and enjoyed the company. As the night drug on, the narrator turned on the t.v and started watching. Him and Robert began to talk. There was a particular show on the television that night, it was about cathedrals. This soon sparked a conversation between the two

men.
During the two’s conversation Robert asked the narrator to describe a Cathedral. He began to describe what it looked like and how they were built, but soon realized that it was harder than he imagined. Since he didn’t know a whole lot about them himself. Robert knew that the narrator was having trouble so he finally spoke up and said, “… Why don’t you find us some heavy paper? And a pen. We’ll do something. We’ll draw one together.” (Carver 314) Once the narrator did what Robert had asked, they both sat down on the floor. The narrator held the pen and Robert put his hand on top of the narrators’. Then they started to draw a Cathedral.
Robert did what he did because he wanted to be able to “see” what a Cathedral actually was. The narrator was blinded by himself while Robert was always like that. Sometimes people are blinded by the fact that they never pay attention. They never try to reason with things that are beyond themselves. Though they may not be physically blind, they still can’t truly see what is happening around them. They feel comfortable in their own little world so they tend to stay there. That is where blindness comes from. This story’s theme was blindness. Not only the blindness of Robert but also from the narrator and his view on things.