Raymond Carver wrote the interesting short story, “Cathedral” about a blind man who can ‘see’ and the narrator, a man who has his sight, but is blind. The narrator is the protagonist in Carver’s story and is seen as a terrible communicator. Carver purposely has the character start off in a bad place and end up in a better one. The author characterizes the narrator and uses the plot of the story to show the concept that someone can have all senses and still be disconnected from reality and not understanding of their surroundings. For most of the story, the narrator is characterized as arrogant, out of touch with reality, and insensitive.
He makes rude comments of the blind man's dead wife, their life, and how pathetic it is to have a partner blind. The narrator continues to ignore what the blind man is saying and refuses to see the man’s position. He states: “ Finally, when I thought he was beginning to run down, I got up and turned on the TV. My wife looked at me with irritation” (Carver 7). The narrator is trying to an effort but he is simply not interested in the blind man and wife wants the narrator to consider for her
The husband’s actions and behavior change drastically throughout “Cathedral”. He went from a stubborn attitude towards Robert to being sympathetic at the end. The very first line of Cathedral the husband refers to Robert as “this blind man”, which gives you a little taste of his attitude towards blind people. The husband isn’t very enthusiastic about Robert coming to stay with him and his wife because Robert
In Raymond Cavers “Cathedral” the idea of vision, at first is that Robert is a blind man, he physically cannot see, and the narrator is bothered by that. But as the story progresses we realize that the idea of vision has a deeper meaning then we first interpreted. Although the narrator is physically able to see he his blind mentally and spiritually. Even though Robert is truly blind physically it seems as if the narrator is more blind then Robert. The narrator’s ignorance is what ultimately makes him blind.
The husband finally found a way to communicate with the blind man through his eyes and voice. Even though the blind man could not see what was playing the husband explained to him about the beautiful Cathedral’s that was being shown on television. The husband asked the blind man if he had ever seen a Cathedral before. The blind man had not. The blind man asked the husband to get a pen and paper and draw with his eyes closed the Cathedral’s he saw on TV.
Oftentimes, people sharing a meal can change the bonds between each person present drastically. Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” uses communion to show how sharing a meal can bring people closer together. The husband, his wife, and the blind man Robert share a evening together of communion and conversation, which challenges how the husband perceives people classified as different. The juxtaposition between the wife and husband and his slight change in attitude towards Robert represents how ignorance can hinder people’s abilities to accept people for who they are as opposed to who they physically appear to be in Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral”. The main character speaks of the blind in a repugnant way.
The protagonist in Raymond Carver’s essay “Cathedral” is the husband of the wife in the story. From the start he was never too thrilled to be having the blind man stay with him in his home. He felt uncomfortable and he also had no idea what to expect because he had never been around a blind man before. After his wife falls asleep the man seems to slowly start to have a more open mind when it comes to the blind man. They start to talk and connect.
Midterm english essay Throughout the short story Cathedral by Raymond Carver you are made to think the narrator has changed. You see him get drunk and high with a blind man. Regardless of the momentary illusion of change, the narrator simply reinforces his own patterns of drunken selfishness thus proving his state of nature. In the beginning the narrator of the story is not literally blind but does not show any insight or self-awareness. He seems to push away his wife and this can bee seen in the beginning when he talks about her poems.
In a similarly mundane short story, “Cathedral” by Ray Carver, a judgmental man with no name is the narrator. The nameless wife of this narrator excitedly invites a blind man, Robert, to stay with them. The narrator is unhappy with this. Unwilling to open his home to the blind man, the narrator wants to stay in his own selfish bubble and neglect any outside perspectives. In the beginning the narrator is very closed off and self-absorbed and allows his wife to do all of the talking.
“Cathedral” is a short and warm story written by Raymond Carver. The author portrays the story in the first person narrative. Carver presents the interaction between an unnamed couple and a blind man by the name of Robert, who is visiting them. The story is told by the husband, the narrator, who is a prejudiced, jealous, and insecure man with very limited awareness of blindness. This theme is exposed through Carver’s description of the actions of the narrator whose lack of knowledge by stereotyping a blind man.