It is Sunday morning, and the noise of hundreds of people walking around the cathedral is heard around the square. The cathedral is magnificent, it rises around two hundred feet in the air with menacing gargoyles and marvelous stained glass windows. Cathedrals are mainly used as a divine symbol, but in Raymond Carver’s short story “Cathedral” he uses the cathedral to represent the relationship between the narrator and his wife. In his story Carver shows that the narrator is a very jealous and bitter person who, often, overlooks his marriage, and does not try to build a better relationship with his wife. Once the wife’s blind friend, Robert, comes to visit, he gives the narrator a new way to look at their marriage. This gives the narrator a chance to see inside himself, for the first time, to see what he has missed out on in the marriage.
The narrator is a very jealous man, and is not very happy that his wife’s blind friend is coming to visit, “[a] blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (Carver). This shows how shallow the narrator is. Even though this blind man is a very close friend to the narrator’s wife the narrator is too jealous. He does not even try to build a relationship with his wife’s friend, which is only a start in showing how dysfunctional the marriage is. Even though the narrator is supposed to love and try to get along with her friends he does not make the effort of even trying to accept her friend coming over for a short visit. To further show how the narrator’s relationship with his wife is strained they argue about her friend coming to stay with them, “[i]f you love me," she said, "you can do this for me. If you don't love me, okay. But if you had a friend, any friend, and the friend c...
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... who he truly is and what his wife means to him by drawing this church. He knows that he has treated his wife wrong and he has overlooked very many aspects of his life, but since Robert has helped him, the narrator can now truly see.
To conclude, Carver uses the narrator’s, metaphorical, blindness to describe how he overlooks so many different aspects of his life, most importantly his marriage. The narrator finally learns to disregard the physical aspects of his marriage and others appearances because there is always a deeper meaning. Carver uses Robert as a guide, even though he is blind, he can read people and uses his other senses to see them, how they truly want to be seen not just by physical appearances. Robert helps the narrator see the error of his ways, to save the couples’ marriage.
Works Cited
Raymond. "Cathedral". n.p., n.d., Web. 25 February 2014.
“Cathedral” consists of three individuals. The narrator is the main character, which the story revolves around. The wife of the narrator is the second character, who is the least relevant. The third character is the blind man, named Robert, who is a friend of the wife.
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.
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.
The narrator is not a religious man. He even makes fun Christianity: “”Now let us pray” […]. My wife looked at me, her mouth agape. “Pray the phone won’t ring and the food doesn’t get cold””. The word agape has a double meaning. It does not only mean that her mouth is open but it also means a love feast that is similar to the Holy Communion. The dinner scene which the quote is from cannot be anymore far from the Holy Communion. The dinner scene is savage and almost animal where the Holy Communion is sacred and pure. The narrator can therefore not be seen as a Christian but he when he is drawing the cathedral he gets an epiphany. An epiphany is something a lot of people seek ought in a cathedral because of its closeness to God. The cathedral is therefore not a symbol for Christianity but the realization you can get in a cathedral. In the beginning the narrator is narrow-minded and he is not happy about that he should spend time with a blind man but in the end he changes: “But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything “it’s really something” I said.” The narrator connects with Robert and he can put himself in his place. He gets insight on how wonderful the world can be when you can “see” other people’s physical flaws but are blind to them. The narrator gains confidence and a new friend in
...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’s wife knew Robert for a long time because she used to work for him and his wife had died so she was the one who was taking care of him since he was all alone. “I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit” (Carver 2) said the narrator. The narrator did not like the blind man because he was extremely close with his wife and they were always sending each other tapes in the mail to keep in touch. Since the narrator was not such a big fan of the blind man, he did not understand why it was such a important time when Robert had asked to touch his wife’s face during her last day working with him. She was working with him all summer but he was blind so he did not even know what she looked like so when he touched her face, she wanted to write a poem about it since it was an important time during her summer job helping him. A while after the narrators wife worked with Robert, they ended up communicating again and she sent him a recording of her talking about her recent life. “She loved her husband but she didn’t like it where they lived and she didn’t like it that he was a part of the military-industrial thing” (Carver 2). The narrator was getting jealous of this relationship between the two of them because it seemed to be going better then his and his wife’s relationship. Since the blind man moved into their house for a period of time,
The protagonist in “Cathedral,” Bub, is a man who has several defining characteristics. Bub is insecure, insensitive, and ignorant. This is clearly shown in Bub’s relationships with his wife and Robert. Bub’s insecurities are blatantly shown when he comments on his wife’s ex-husband:
In the story, the narrator exemplifies ignorance when presented with the reality of life. Likewise, his ignorance prevents him from seeing life beyond the scope of the physical element. The narrator is consumed with the influence of media and society in viewing the realities of life. “ And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies. “(78) The narrator's ideology of reality was formed by media and society. In the context of “Cathedral” media and society portrayed successful individuals as ones with various materialistic and physical attributes. Likewise, throughout his narration, his focus is on the physical and materialistic aspects of life. “ The man she was going to marry at the end of the summer was in officer's training school. He didn’t have any money, either.” The narrator is incompetent to recognize that relationships rely on deep emotional attachment, therefore, he has a difficult time to comprehend the relationship between his wife and the old ...
In the short story Cathedral the main character does not have the greatest connection with his wife. He is jealous of her blind friend who visits, Robert, since he knows that they have always had a special bond that he lacks with her. When he tries to explain what a cathedral looks like to Robert he has a difficult time. But, when Robert insists that he draws it he has an epiphany. While he was drawing it, with his eyes shut, he knew that he was still in his house but he “didn’t feel like [he] was inside anything”. By him drawing the cathedral also reiterates the fact that he had an epiphany. A cathedral is a holly symbol, which means a place of worship, realization and rebirth. Moreover, when he is drawing the symbol of rebirth he realizes the connection that Robert has with his...
“Cathedral” by Raymond Carver is a story narrorated by a man whose wife invites an old friend (Robert) over for a visit after recently losing his wife of eight years. This old friend is blind, which greatly troubles the nameless man. This is because he already has a preconceived idea of what blind people are like without ever having met one. As the story progresses and soon ends, this unnamed man learns of his misconceptions and the true meaning of life after spending time with his blind house guest. This is accomplished as Carver uses irony to accentuate the difference between physically looking versus internally seeing. Symbolism is also used as literary device to point out that empathy and viewpoint is the only way to truly understand profound emotion.
The cathedral represents more than just a fancy hundred year old building, it also represents sight. Before the narrator and Robert go through their spiritual connection, the narrator’s life was pretty much black and white, he could see and Robert could not. However, when Robert asks the narrator to describe to him what a cathedral looks like, the narrator found that he was unable to form the words to fully describe what it looked like. “You’ll have to forgive me…” the narrator stated, “But I can’t tell you what a cathedral looks like. It just isn’t in me to do it” (Carver, pg.527). Unable to form the words to describe the cathedral, Robert suggests an alternative for the narrator to try. Up until this moment in the story the narrator was not a spiritual man, of course, that is until he began to draw. The real moment of symbolism however, was not until Robert placed his hand upon the narrators, helping to guide and feel the shapes of a cathedral through the narrator’s own interpretation. By opening up to Robert, and experiencing the moment of true sight the narrator was finally able to “see” something he had previously not been able to,
The tone of Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” is sincere. The author generates sincerity through the use of imagery, diction and the narrator’s direct address of the reader. The tone allows for a dynamic change in the reader, from revulsion to sympathy. At the beginning, the reader can perceive more than the narrator (Bub) can. This creates a curious response that demands a change in Bub`s awareness. However, the reader then follows a path of compassion when Bub lowers his self-conscious shield, shares an intimate friendship, and goes through an epiphany. The tone of sincerity directs us to an ambiguous ending which leaves a question that readers must answer: What is Bub`s epiphany?
This is evident within the trust issues that the narrator overcame during the story. The narrator tells readers about a poem his wife wrote where she describes the experience of Robert touching her nose and lips. Furthermore, the narrator states that he didn’t think much of the poem. This shows that the narrator is in essence, jealous of Robert’s interaction with her, as Robert was able to connect to her in a way that the narrator failed to comprehend initially. In drawing the cathedral, the narrator could finally understand the knowledge that his wife had attained many years before him and understood what it was that had drawn his wife to the blind man, thus removing any insecurities he may have had. In addition, the narrator’s wife also opened the narrator’s mind through her demonstration of trust. The narrator’s wife says to the narrator, “If you love me, you can do this for me. If you don't love me, okay. But if you had a friend, any friend, and the friend came to visit, I'd make him feel comfortable" (carver, 3). In expressing this statement, the narrator’s wife shows that she does indeed love the narrator and is trying to prove this to him. It also demonstrates that the narrator himself is being reluctant in allowing the blind man into his home due to a lack of trust towards his wife. As Robert turns out to be an exceptional character to the narrator, he inevitably learns to trust his
Character is an imperative element to a story’s meaning. In order for a story to be captivating and perpetuate meaning, it must have sufficient character. Without the literary device of character, the story would disintegrate into a state of lifeless monotony. In Raymond Carver’s short story, “Cathedral”, the inclusion of character is noticeable throughout, and provides motivation for the reader to continue reading. “Cathedral” follows the narrator, who is the protagonist of the story, and his wife, and a blind man named Robert. The blind man, who is a friend of the narrator’s wife, is invited to stay with them for a period of time. As a result, the narrator displays jealously and resentment of
... on his interaction and communication with others. In terms of the tone of the story, it seemingly conveys the positive messages. In Cathedral, instead of monologue as in A Clean Well-lighted Place, the narrator is more likely talking to us, trying to keep us amused and engaged. Underneath the wisecracks, readers can hear a tone of sincerity and positive attitudes towards life. Though the narrator makes jokes of the blind man initially, he shows respect and do what Robert asks him to do as the story continues.