Blindness In Cathedral

Carver highlights the narrator’s prejudice in the opening section of the story in order to reveal how the narrator’s bias against blind people in general leads to a preconceived negative opinion on Robert. From the outset, the narrator acknowledges his prejudice by mentioning that his “idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed” (Carver, 1). The narrator’s negative prejudice is not caused by knowing a blind man; rather, it is derived from an external factor, demonstrating how the narrator has formulated an opinion on people he has never met. Consequently, the narrator assumes that Robert will conform to the negative stereotype present in his mind, and is unpleased about Robert’s visit.

Don’t ask me why this is” (Carver, 11). After attempting to describe the cathedral, he realized he could not. He said,“but it looks like that’s the best I can do for you. I’m just no good at it” (Carver, 12). Later on, when Robert asks the Narrator to bring him a pen and paper and they drew the cathedral, the Narrator realized something very important.

The narrator wasn’t expecting that because he knows Robert can’t physically see. While drawing, the narrator says, “The blind man felt around over the paper. He moved the tips of the fingers over the paper… Doing fine, the blind man said” (13). Robert later makes the narrator feel over the paper and the narrator describes it like “nothing else in my life up to now”() Robert shows both his creative communication skills and him being different than the stereotypical blind

In my understanding of the story “Cathedral” by the author, Raymond Carver, in the beginning, the protagonist is not keen on the idea of his wife's recently widowed Blind friend, Robert staying the night at their home. The narrator seems to have a negative preconception about blind people, believing that they cannot live an ordinary life because they do not physically see the world as he does. Throughout the story, I think there were clues about how the blind man can see, through the use of his other senses, for example, the way that the blind man could see the narrator's wife was by touching her face, tracing her facial features with his fingers. At dinner, the blind man's sense of smell and touch guided him to eat and drink like everyone

In Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” the narrator in the story a man who could not clearly see the world around him, has a limited awareness about blindness. He went from being a little prejudiced and superficial to having a break through by socializing with a blind man. Beneath the surface he finds a revelation about himself. In the beginning of the story the protagonist the narrator in “Cathedral” seems narrow- minded and an insensitive person.

Before the narrator met the blind man he was judgmental and critical towards him. As the story continues, the tension, which is only found in the narrator’s head, starts to resolve as he sees more. It takes the narrator drawing a cathedral and putting himself in a blind man’s shoes to be able to have “sight”. The narrator becomes open-minded and looks at Robert in a new positive

An old friend of the narrator "Robert,'' is the blind man in the story. When the sighted man tries to explain what a cathedral is like to the blind man, his words fail. One man relies on vision to communicate, the other does not. It was like they spoke different languages. At the end of the story when the narrator says "My eyes were still closed.

Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, Raymond Carver use point of view effectively and demonstrates symbolism. The story begins with the blind man. He is visiting an old friend and her husband after his wife recently died. The story is told from the husband’s point of view. The story being told from the husband’s point of view is important.

The “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, begins with a seemingly “normal” husband is about to come to grips with an old “blind” friend of his wife. As the story progress the reader finds out just the opposite. Throughout the story the reader sees, by his words and actions, that the husband does not “see” or understands what Robert’s (the friend) blindness means, He cannot understand how changed or did not change him as a human. In the beginning of the story Robert seemingly makes the husband feel very uncomfortable, he does not know what to say or how to act around a blind person.

Throughout the play, these two components are always at the center of the action. Even people that have great vision and can have the physical capability to see, can still be blind to truth and complete understanding of it. Throughout the tragedy Oedipus the King, Sophocles ' repeatedly bring up the idea of sight and uses it as a metaphor for insight and knowledge. The protagonist of the play, Oedipus, is "blind" to the fact that the fate that he had tried so hard to avoid, had come true without him knowing of it, while the physically blind prophet Tiresias was the one who can actually "see" and understand the

"Cathedral" a story about a man who is annoyed with his wife's old friend that is blind, but ends up teaching him a new way of viewing life. “Walk a mile in my shoes, see what I see, hear what I hear, feel what I feel, THEN maybe you'll understand why I do what I do, 'till then don’t judge me.” The advice to “walk a mile in someone else's shoes” means before judging someone, you must understand their challenges are in life and what they go though. This is clearly expressed in the story “Cathedral” by the narrator himself.

A person’s inability to see is often taken for granted as it is in “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver (1981). The title suggests the story is about an actual cathedral, however, it is about two men who are blind, one physically and one figuratively. One of the men is Robert, the physically blind man, a friend of the narrator’s wife; the other is the narrator himself, the figuratively blind man. Carver displays the development of the naïve narrator throughout the story through narration, a moment of epiphany, and symbolism. Carver uses first-person narration to tell the story of “Cathedral”.

Within modern day society, there are many people who have eyesight cannot “see.” This sad truth is reflected within the husband who cannot connect with his wife because he displays a lack of insight. As the protagonist of the short story Cathedral, the husband had to undergo a certain change within the story in order to connect with his wife, who actually tends to be the antagonist. Through the usage of the husband’s language, behavior, and interaction with other characters–the author, Raymond Carver proves that it is possible to “see” once one accepts change.

Robert, the main character in Raymond Carver’s short story “Cathedral”, is the only blind man in the story. He is a caring, amiable man who even sets the narrator at ease. Robert visits the narrator’s wife after his own wife, Beulah, dies. He and the narrator’s wife have been listening to each other through the audiotapes they send back and forth during the past ten years. The narrator’s wife has recorded what she experiences including her marriage, suicide attempt, and divorce.