Robert As A Christian Figure In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
While many Christians may blanch at the alcohol drinking and pot smoking portrayed in Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral”, the blind man, Robert, actually bears a strong resemblance to the Christian messiah. Robert may not have a halachic education or brown sandals on his feet, but he does have a brown beard and many similarities to Jesus that mark him as a Christ figure. In Carver’s “Cathedral”, Robert serves as a modern day Christ figure, bringing enlightenment to the people he encounters.
Jesus is famous for being a messiah in a time that did not welcome him; he was an outsider and one who was perceived to be a threat to the society of his time. Robert is also on the fringe of society on account of his blindness. In the opening sentence of “Cathedral”, the narrator identifies Robert as “this blind man” as opposed to the various other labels he could heap upon him (Carver 514). The narrator also propagates the idea that “the blind move slowly and never laugh”, an illogical stereotype. This is not dissimilar to Jesus’s discriminatory treatment at the hands of the Romans as he conceptualized Christianity and spread his message to the people.
Robert and the narrator have a Christian communion experience of sorts that
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“[They] dug in. [They] ate everything there was to eat on the table. [They] ate like there was no tomorrow. [They] didn’t talk. [They] ate. [They] scarfed. [They] grazed the table. [They] were into serious eating”. The seriousness of their meal mirrors the gravitas of the Last Supper. Their lack of verbal communication with each other also suggests that they are at ease with each other. The narrator’s wife and Robert know each other at this point; Robert and the narrator are fairly unacquainted. However, because Robert, like the Christ, has an ability to gain the trust of the people around him, he is able to create a comfortable atmosphere even without
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