Many times throughout the story, the narrator is sitting on the couch, drinking, or watching television. Before the blind man comes, the narrator says, “With nothing to do but wait...I was having a drink and watching the TV…” (Carver, 143). Then, after dinner is over, he excuses himself and leaves to watch TV in the living room. The narrator is constantly getting drinks throughout the story. In fact, there are seven times that the narrator fixes drinks for himself and Robert.
This short story is particularly short compared to most but it was a good story to help readers understand and identify tone and style. Readers can understand the elements by reading what the narrator has to say about the blind man. He is always complaining about him before the blind man even gets to his house. The narrator in the beginning did not give the blind man a chance before he started judging him. In a world full of negative things, people should give each other a chance to get to know one
The literature of America has undergone radical change since it’s beginnings with the puritan tradition. This rapid development has essentially been driven by a “desire” for a new literary “expression of American identity” and “artistic independence” from Europe, which was the center of world power and culture in the nineteenth century . In 1837, Emerson demanded that an end be put to America’s dependence on and “long apprenticeship to the learning of other lands” and encouraged his contemporaries to think with their own minds . In order to truly understand the spirit of a nation, one must look to its artists writers and philosopher, especially those of reputation and influence within the nation itself . The works of Walt Whitman and Louisa May Alcott were heavily influenced by the changing atmosphere of the nineteenth century with its new emphasis on self and society .
While they are watching television, Robert tells the narrator to fetch a piece of heavy paper. Lastly, the narrator and Robert draw a picture of a cathedral together so Robert can get a better idea of a cathedral. In the story “Cathedral,” the narrator’s thoughts, actions, and feelings reveal the theme that even when unexpected, one can learn something from meeting new people. In
For most of the story, the narrator is characterized as arrogant, out of touch with reality, and insensitive. The story starts off with the narrator telling readers how his wife has a blind friend who is coming to
Therefore, the narrator is terrified and is starting to realize he could get in huge trouble. Then, the narrator starts to think about the consequences of his actions. He says that “Perhaps other possibilities occurred to them a well—police, jail cells, justice of the peace, …” (693). The narrator now knows that he is not tough because he is now afraid of going to jail for sexually assaulting a girl and attacking the bad
It characterizes the narrator's energetic and lively self as she remembers the details that stuck out the most. The narrator illustrates the environment around her in the first paragraph, the locust, the heat, and the greenery and represents her summers with the statement, “Life was measured in summers,”. The second paragraph quickly introduces the cherry bomb, which is also the title of the story, but swiftly changes the subject to the Hairy Man. The third paragraph discusses her hiding spot for her box and the fourth illustrates Eddy’s injury with the cherry bomb. The last paragraph pulls the story together and explains the significance of the cherry bomb.
The narrator did not mention anything that could be related to thoughts and feelings of the characters in the story. For example, taken from the excerpt paragraph 10 – 11 when Conway asked; ‘but who has made all these plans?’ Mallinson answered sharply: ‘Lo-Tsen. She’s with the porters now. She’s waiting,’ the narrator did not describe how the Mallinson felt and think when Conway questioned him regarding the plan and the same goes to Conway’s when Mallinson told him about the plan in paragraph 9. In my opinion, the narrator seems to narrate the story with the least explanation in order to allow the reader to gain information based on the details that only reveled by
The son, however, does not tell him this because he realizes the toll life has taken on his father. After this the father begins to question the narrator what he has been up to, such as his school life, and while the narrator does respond, his father never talks about what the narrator wants to talk about. As the narrator prepares to leave his father gives him two gifts, a rifle and various kinds of books his father spent his time collecting, since his wife told him that the narrator liked books. The story ends with the narrator experiencing conflicting emotions on whether he should forgive his father or continue being angry at him.
The narrator feels envious of his wife’s marriage with her childhood friend. The narrator talks about his wife to the blind man all through the story. He doesn't look to be happy and he is not open-minded at all. From the beginning of the story the narrator has an unfriendly identity. He is jealous of his wife's friendship with the blind man.