Raymond Carver Cathedral Essay
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”. His choice of first-person point of view for the narrator provides a clearer portrayal of his feelings and attitude. Although the husband, the narrator, has
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The evening is spent breaking down misconceptions. Robert even watches, or rather, listens, to television. The author’s moment of epiphany appears as the narrator begins to describe a cathedral shown on the television. Relying on his eyes, our narrator is not successful in describing what is on the television, which required further definition. Robert suggests that they draw one together and the author accepts. This shows our narrator has already begun to see Robert as an equal. He is now starting to refer to him as Robert and not the “blind man”. Our narrator now realizes that blind people aren’t any different from those who can see. They sit at a table and begin to draw while Robert puts his hands over the narrator’s in order to feel the shapes and sizes of the cathedral they are drawing. The narrator is starting to open his eyes but not fully. Not until Robert says: “Close your eyes now.” The narrator closes his eyes and begins to draw. He starts to realize they are relying on feeling, which makes them the same. While closing his eyes and drawing the cathedral with Robert, he feels that “it was like nothing else in my life up to now.” This statement shows the change happening within the narrator. He has been negative towards Robert up until this point when he puts himself in someone else's shoes. His epiphany becomes clear with the closing lines of the story: “It’s really
Compare And Contrast Cathedral And A Good Man Is Hard To Find
1375 Words | 6 PagesThe unnamed narrator does not see Robert, the blind man, as a person, but as someone different. The grandmother, on the other hand, believes in her appearance and belief that is better than other people. After the challenges they both face, they end up finding enlightenment. In “Cathedral,” the narrator was not certain on how to describe the Cathedral to Robert. The narrator resorts to drawing and with a pen in his hand, he had realized that Robert “closed his hand over my hand” and asks the narrator to “close your eyes” as they drew the Cathedral (75-76).
Response To Raymond Carver's Cathedral
431 Words | 2 PagesThe author use of the title “Cathedral” was misleading at first. “Cathedral” is about a husband who had an interesting experience with his wife’s blind friend. The narrator, also known as the husband, had difficulty understanding other people thoughts and personal feelings. The narrator knew how important the blind man is to his wife, yet he still makes careless jokes about him. “Maybe I could take him bowling” was a comment made by the narrator after finding out that the blind man was staying over his house.
Use Of Metaphors In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
978 Words | 4 PagesOn the creation of the drawings of the cathedral, two of the men don’t relay know much about it but share their knowledge of cathedrals. I also like to think that the blind man is very religious as stated in the story. The blind man being religious helps the narrator have a better understanding of the cathedral. The narrator draws and draws, getting wrapped up into what he is doing. The cathedral symbolizes an opportunity to put somebody else's needs ahead of his own and think about life from a different perspective or point of view .
Blindness And Ignorance In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
968 Words | 4 PagesRobert kindly reassures the narrator and ultimately suggests the narrator draws a cathedral on heavy paper for him to feel. As the narrator draws, Robert runs his fingers over the lines, eventually finding the narrator’s hands. Although the narrator’s wife wakes up and asks what the two men are doing, she is ignored. The narrator continues to draw the cathedral with Robert’s hand over his until Robert tells him to close his eyes.
Cathedral By Raymond Carver
221 Words | 1 Pages"Cathedral" is a short story written by Raymond Carver and is narrated from a first-person point of view and this short story shows how the narrator’s perspective on life get affected by a blind man’s visit. The unnamed narrator appears cynical, close minded and he makes shallow remarks. His blindness with explaining the cathedral, comes into light when he starts viewing cathedral with Robert and turn towards and become more aware. In ‘The Black Cat’ Poe uses first person point of view.
A Rose For Emily And Cathedral Analysis
1268 Words | 6 PagesHe realizes how smart Robert is, and he keeps being shocked as the night goes on. While listening to a show about Cathedrals, Robert asks the narrator to describe him a Cathedral. The narrator tries his hardest, but can not do it. To combat this, Robert takes the narrator's hand and has him close his eyes and together they draw the church just from memory. After drawing the Cathedrals, the narrator describes the picture as, “ It’s really something” (103).He learns how seeing is not everything in life, and how wrong he was with his assumptions about Robert.
Stereotypes In Carver's Cathedral
1225 Words | 5 PagesRobert continues to try and build what he can of a relationship with the narrator, for instance, drawing the cathedral
Theme Of Communication In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
1554 Words | 7 PagesIn the Raymond Carver stories “Cathedral” and “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” communication plays a major role in developing the story. In this essay I will analyze how the theme of communication plays both similar and different roles in developing the meaning of these two stories to further understand how communication effects the characters. Communication is an important part of the story to understand because it gives the reader a better understanding of the moral of the story as well as important life influences of the author. “Cathedral” and “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” are excellent to stories to compare their theme of communication because communication gives each story a unique meaning, but both stories use communication in different ways to do so. By exploring the different types of communication in these two stories it will be easier to understand the moral meaning of the stories but also how different types of communication can be more effective than verbal communication.
The Role Of The Narrator In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
533 Words | 3 PagesIn Cathedral Raymond Carver narrates his short story through the first- person point of view, providing clear insight into the narrator’s experience with the Robert, the blind man. The narrator, who remains unnamed throughout the story, reveals his thoughts through his tone. Carver’s utilization of first-person point of view allows the reader to better comprehend the narrator’s mood, in addition to his inner traits. This permits the reader to understand the narrator’s personality, knowing the narrator at a deeper level. Through the first-person point of view of the narrator in Cathedral, Raymond Carver illustrates a short story that examines the narrator’s fear of the Robert who is visually impaired, in addition to his hostility towards him, which later turns into sympathy all resulting from his isolation to the norm.
Stereotyping In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
780 Words | 4 PagesSometimes in life, people will have to deal with other people that are judgmental and listen to stereo types when they know nothing about the person. In the short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, there are some examples of stereotyping. This story is about a woman who has a good friend of hers and he is blind. The blind man, whose wife had just recently died and was traveling to go visit his family, was stopping at the women’s house overnight. The blind man and the narrator’s wife knew each other.
Prejudice In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
727 Words | 3 PagesIn the story, the narrator’s narrow mindset is challenged over and over again as Robert breaks most stereotypes that the narrator held. As these stereotypes are broken, the narrator begins to feel more comfortable with Robert, and sincerely tells him that he is “glad for the company”. This release from prejudice culminates in the cathedral drawing scene of the story, where the narrator finally lets go of his bias towards blind people. Once the narrator closes his eyes, he is seemingly equal to Robert, and he consequently begins to understand Robert’s perspective. His newfound empathy towards Robert demonstrates how he has lost his prejudice towards him.
Internal Conflict In Cathedral By Raymond Carver
1522 Words | 7 PagesThroughout the story the reader can affirm that the wife has a deep, strong relationship with the blind man. The wife and the blind man share an intimate and vulnerable moments together; one includes when she lets him touch her face so he can remember her. Similarly, the narrator gets to share an intimate moment with Robert that leads to an epiphany. The epiphany that the narrator experiences when drawing a cathedral refers to seeing life from Robert, the blind man’s, point of view and seeing the struggles as well as life experiences a blind man must encounter on a daily basis.
The Theme Of Epiphany In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
860 Words | 4 PagesWhat they look like, that is? Do you follow me? If somebody says cathedral to you, do you have any notion what they’re talking about? Do you know the difference between that and a Baptist church, say” (111)? Robert is beginning to affect the narrator.
The Theme Of Blindness In 'Cathedral' By Raymond Carver
917 Words | 4 PagesRobert just replied to her saying they are drawing a cathedral. The blind man ran his fingers over the paper, and places his hand over the narrator which is the beginning to the narrator’s meaningful life lesson. The man with lots of prejudices against blind people, that jealous husband who thought that the blind man has feelings for his wife began to draw. Robert encourages the narrator to close his eyes and keep drawing.
The Cause Of Conflict In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
1358 Words | 6 PagesRobert asks about the narrator’s religion which brings them to the topic of Cathedrals. Since Robert is blind he doesn’t know exactly what a Cathedral is and only can picture a normal building and what he thinks it might be like. As they continue to talk, Robert asks for some paper and a pen. Robert takes Bub’s hand and tells him to draw a Cathedral. Robert continues to cheer Bub on and continue drawing.
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