Response To Raymond Carver's Cathedral

In the short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, the narrator describes the night when his wife’s blind friend, Robert, comes to visit. From the very beginning of the story, the husband is not thrilled about the upcoming visit and makes sure to express his disdain in various ways. This is because he does not understand Robert’s disability and how it both has and has not affected his way of life. It is because of this that the husband can be seen as a “blind” man as well.

Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” is narrated by a man who is unhappy that his wife is friends with a blind man. He has not ever known any blind people in his life and he has many ill conceived conceptions about them and how they perceive the world. The narrator unfolds the story slowly to show his own lack of perception with regard to his wife and the world around him. He comes to realize that perhaps the man that cannot see with his eyes can “see” reality better than he can.

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.

(Carver 32). This comment by the narrator also gives insight to prejudice that he holds. The narrator obliviously has never experienced an encounter with a blind individual and has skewed perceptions of what the blind community is like. Later in the short story, the narrator gives the reader a full idea of his prejudice deposition with the comment “And his being blind bothered me.” (Carver 32).

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 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 the story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, the narrator was going through a major personal transformation. At the beginning of the story, the narrator has a negative personality. He lacks compassion and is jealous of his wife’s relationship with Robert, the blind man. Until the end of the story, Robert had changed the narrator’s mind about his detached emotionally from others.

In Langston’s poem, he talks about how he was unwanted by the family he lives with,and how he is treated unfairly. Although he did not appreciate this unfair treatment he still stayed positive. Hughes describes a typical night in his home when he states, “ I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong¨(Hughes 2-7). Here, he describes having to sit away from company, because of the color of his skin.

The narrator is jealous of the blind man because he has no idea of what kind of a person he is and the only thing he knows about him is that his wife and he has kept in touch over the years. It shows a deeper meaning of sight versus

This article describes how Edward Lear’s life affected his writing. As a young boy he worked as an ornithological draftsman, which lead him to his love for birds. Lear was unsettled by his self appearance because he had an “unattractive nose and poor eyesight, couple with his fruitless hope to marry” (Livingston 1). Lear wrote “The Dong with a Luminous Nose” to show how he hollow because his nose is not perfect. He died a lonely bachelor, but wrote about love as a fantasy to his life.