Short Story Analysis: Raymond Carver's Cathedral

Xiao Chen

March 19, 2017

LFA PRODUCT 2.1- FICTION

Analyze of Cathedral

Cathedral was written by Raymond Carver who was an America poet and short story author. This short story was published in 1983. The protagonist was the husband – the narrator. The antagonist was the wife's friend- Robert. The story is about two blind men who have a different type of blindness - one is psychologically blind in the mind. The other is a physically blind and visually obstructed. The problem is that the narrator lacks communication with society and his wife and friends. He was ignorant and prejudiced around people with him because he never put his feet on another person's shoes. During the course of the story, he communicated with Robert the blind man who taught him

Robert asked the narrator to describe it, but he could not. So Robert asked him draw the picture of “Cathredral” out, and as the narrator drew it out and Robert follews along with the narrator's hand. Robert graps what a cathedral looks like, while the narrator begins to understand, how life must be like as a blind person. In the last paragraph, the narrator was “awakening” by an epiphany and began to draw the picture. “His fingers rode my fingers as my hand went over the paper. It was like nothing else in my life up to now.” “ My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn't feel like I was inside anything. It's really something,” the narrator said. In the scientific way this was called meditation which can make people concentrate their mind and relax. It is a cognitive enhancer and improves thinking. The narrator became more humane and truthful with Robert because he was gained some insight into what life is like for Robert. When narrator closes his eyes and meditate, he can also experience the world and gain some sense of just how different that experience is from his own. He can now kind of anticipate or understand