Two short stories that are very interesting and different is "The Rocking Horse Winner" and "Cathedral." They are very distinguished with the themes of each short story. In "The Rocking Horse Winner" one of the many themes is obsession and a person can perceive that reading throughout the whole short story. In "Cathedral" one of the main themes is understanding and to see that a person has to read the whole story and see that in the end. The difference between the two short stories "The Rocking Horse Winner" and "Cathedral" " are the ideas of each of the stories are so disparate. In the "Rocking Horse Winner" obsession is such a big theme. So many of the characters in this short story shows that. Obsession is when a person is fixated on a certain thing and unhealthily devoted to it. In this short story there is the young boy named Paul. Paul has a special gift and that is to figure out who will be the upcoming winner of the …show more content…
In the story the narrator, who is also the husband, is very judgmental at first. He is this way because his wife's friend is coming to stay with them for a couple of days and her friend is a blind man named Robert. The husband never met this man, never the less a blind man. In the beginning he is stereotyping the blind man by saying, "My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind move slowly and never laughed" (Carver 456). Once Robert had arrived at his house he was still skeptical. They had little conversation here and there through the day, but it was mostly his wife and Robert. In the day they also mostly drank and talked until later in the evening the husband turned on the tv. The wife got mad, but then realized Robert had actually watched TV at home until he said, "My dear, I have two TV's. I have a color set and a black-and-white thing, an old relic" (460). They realized after that just because he is blind doesn't mean he does not have a
When first reading the story the narrator comes across as someone with a not so pleasant attitude. The narrator's wife and an old friend or hers named Robert; who is blind, have been communicating with each other for the past ten years. It's pretty obvious that the narrator is jealous of Robert. This is part of why the narrator has issues with blind people. “My idea of blindness came from the movies.
From that moment, the narrator show his true side to me. It shows that he doesn’t not care about his wife feeling toward the blind man. After carefully reading “cathedral”, the narrator is jealous of the blind man relationship with his
The main character speaks of the blind in a repugnant way. He says things such as “his being blind bothered me” and “a blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” all within the first paragraph of the story. The author had included in the story that the husband had never met a blind person, so one could deduce that his negativity towards the blind was unfounded and ignorant. His wife, however, did not feel this way towards the blind man, Robert.
The husband was a strong character. It was obvious he was a very understanding husband although, he was a little jealous of the connection between the blind man and his wife. The husband addressed to his wife the issues of images people have of handicap people such as blindness. After allowing the blind man into his home he realized people can be wrong about their images of one another.
Robert literally can’t see, but he does obtain vision only on a deeper level. The narrator isn’t too enamored with the idea of another man coming to his home. He is insensitive and makes some harsh comments that make Robert feel a little uncomfortable. Due to his callous and unsympathetic personality, the narrator is never able to connect with his wife while Robert is instantly able to. Robert comes to visit the narrator and his wife at their home for the first time.
The narrator’s eyes are closed and he is being led by a blind man, yet he is able to see. Carver never explains what it is the narrator sees, but there is the sense that he has found a connection and is no longer detached or isolated. The narrator is faced with a stark realization and glimmer of hope. Hope for new views, new life and probably even new identity. Even the narrator’s wife is surprised by the fact that her husband and Robert really get along together.
So, Paul is convinced that by playing on his rocking horse will reveal to him the winning horse. The winning horse would be the horse that Paul would bet on and receive a sum of money. Which, he thought would make his mother happy but would only
A mother is a person who loves and cares for their child unconditionally and will put her their needs before her own. When her child is sick, she will stay beside them no matter what. A mother is always there when someone is down and needs someone to talk to. However, in the stories, “The Rocking Horse Winner” and ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,” both authors portray the mothers, Hester and Jane, somewhat similar when describing their relationship with their child. The stories’ definition of “Mother” are described in a negative manner that not many readers can relate to such neglectful behavior.
When telling anecdotes, the narrator seems to be indifferent, instead giving every last detail as shown with little to no opinion. When he does have an opinion it is usually mocking and is shown through the use of italics or parentheses. For example, when he asked whether the blind man knew which side he was sitting on thinking, “Going to New York, you should sit on the right-hand side of the train, and coming from New York, the left-hand side.” The narrator, throughout the first half of the story, maintains this skeptical and condescending tone that eventually impacts his change in judgment. The shift in tone from skeptical to more of an accepting an open one is apparent after the narrator, his wife, and the blind man have dinner as the narrator states, “ I watched with admiration as he used his knife and fork ….
The narrator had never meet a blind person before and believed in the stereotypes. The narrator said “A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (Carver 331), in the last sentence of the first paragraph. For the narrator, there should be no problem letting a blind man into the house. Throughout this short story the husband continues to make short remarks to the old blind man, as well as keeping a routine for making comments to the blind man. For the reader it is really easy not to pay attention to the story and instantly get annoyed.
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.
he was on his way to spend the night. His wife had died” (Carver 84). This shows his attitude towards blind people by pointing out that Robert is blind, and not just an “old friend of [his] wife’s” (Carver 84). Carver develops the two main characters to completely contrast one and other both physically, and psychologically.
The story revolves around three characters, a husband who is also referred to as Bub, his wife, and a blind man, Robert. The story begins with the wife reminiscing back at the times that she shared with Robert. She continues to talk about how much she enjoyed spending time with him. She talks about how she has kept in touch with him and how she has even written about Robert before. Even though the narrator doesn’t directly state to his wife, he happens to be “irritated” (Facknitz) by the fact his wife tends to have a connection with Robert.
This so called “luck” is what essentially drives Paul to his grave. As the story progresses, Paul’s health decreases to a point where his soul is already gone though he is still breathing. It is when Paul dies where the reader realizes that this God was a fake when Uncle Oscar says, “My God, Hester, you’re eighty-odd thousand to the good and a poor devil of a son to the bad. But, poor devil, poor devil, he’s best gone out of a life where he rides his rocking
The boy found a type of supernatural way to predict horse races’ winners with the aid of his rocking horse. But additional money did not make his family happier; mother’s pursuance of luxury only increased. Trying to fulfill them, Paul died during the prediction of his biggest win. While the plot looks like a sad fairy tale, it refers to many real issues of the modern