Stereotypes In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

Robert Emerson said, "People only see what they are prepared to see." This quote explains how people only see stereotypes. They judge others from the stereotype of society. That is exactly what "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver portrays: The idea that different aspects in life are not what they seem to be. The information in the media limited the narrator from truly “seeing” Robert.

As the story first begins, it is clearly seen that the narrator has excitement for meeting Robert. After witnessing years of his wife and the blind man converse back and forth, he let the stereotypes of society cloud his judgment. The passage states, "I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me,"(1). In this statement,

But as he said that idea “came from the movies,”(1). The narrator is irritated by Robert’s visit. He thought that blind man might be a nuisance. In the passage the narrator remarks, “A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to,”(1). He thinks that the Robert will cause things to be problematic. The narrator expected Robert to have a big seeing-eye dog that will make a mess. What he did expect, was for Robert to break the shell of the typical blind man stereotype. When the narrator first saw Robert he stated, “But he didn’t use a cane and he didn’t wear dark glasses. I’d always thought dark glasses were a must for the blind,” (5). That was the first point that made Robert begin to seem like a “normal” person. The narrator dumbfounded when he noticed that Robert had a beard. He exclaimed saying, “This blind man, feature this, he was wearing a full beard. A beard on a blind man! Too much, I say, " (4). As the story continues, the narrator found that Robert was not the typical blind person. He states, "The blind man had right away located his foods, he knew just where everything was on his plate. I watched with admiration as he used his knife and fork on the meat," (6). Now, the narrator has completely removed Robert from the stereotype of a blind man. He sees him as a regular person or a friend. But even though he does not judge Robert by the blind

Robert is trying to explain the theme the narrator in a way he understands. Since Robert is blind, he cannot judge people by their looks. His disability forces him to be able to detect someone’s true self. The author explains this by stating, “And then to slip off into death, the blind man’s hand on her hand, his blind eyes streaming tears…he never even knew what she looked like,” (4). Robert married his wife, Beulah, without ever seeing her face. He laid her in her grave without ever seeing her face. Although the narrator sees this as a disadvantage, the author expresses it as love. The narrator went about his whole life judging people by their looks and stereotypes, while Robert married woman without even once seeing what she looks like. In Cathedral, Robert wants the narrator to do the same: to see the world as if he was blind. When Robert asks the narrator draw a cathedral, he is unknowingly helping him. In Cathedral, Robert asks, “But maybe you could describe one to me? I wish you’d do it. I’d like that. If you want to know, I really don’t have a good idea,” (11). After Robert requested this, the narrator found that he could not describe a cathedral. He stared the pictures of cathedrals on the TV screen, but he still was unable to verbally or physically illustrate it. Robert detected this so he told the narrator to close his eyes. By keeping his eyes closed, the narrator was able to experience things as a blind man. At the