The Blind Husband In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
The “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, begins with a seemingly “normal” husband is about to come to grips with an old “blind” friend of his wife. As the story progress the reader finds out just the opposite.
Throughout the story the reader sees, by his words and actions, that the husband does not “see” or understands what Robert’s (the friend) blindness means, He cannot understand how changed or did not change him as a human. In the beginning of the story Robert seemingly makes the husband feel very uncomfortable, he does not know what to say or how to act around a blind person. “His being blind bothered me” is said by the husband early on. The husband also refers to Robert as “this blind man.” He never uses the name Robert nor does he give him any human characteristics. These actions show that the husband sees Robert not as a person but as a handicap person.
It gets no
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The first time the reader sees this evolution is at dinner. While eating, the husband "watched with admiration as (Robert) used his knife and fork on the meat." Here the husband sees that Robert can eat just like everyone else. Another example of the husband’s turnabout is after dinner when the three decided to smoke marijuana. The husband stared in amazement when it was Robert’s turn, he "held the smoke, and then let it go. It was like he’d been doing it since he was nine years old.” Finally the wife goes upstairs, Robert turns on the television and a cathedral shows up on the screen. The husband "rises with the spirit of the blind man as, with eyes closed and pen on paper, he leads the blind man’s hand over what he imagines the contours of a cathedral would be.” When they are done Robert wants the husband to look, but he has his eyes closed because he "thought it was something [he] ought to do." It was at this time, the husband “sees” Robert as a human with the same feeling, ideas and emotions as
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 PagesFrom 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
Cognitive Blindness In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
838 Words | 4 PagesBefore the blind man even arrives and is properly introduced to the narrator, he (the narrator) expresses his bigotry and speaks ill of a man he’s never met. Through the numerous rude comments he makes to his wife, he hints at a handful of different biases he holds without shame. The bias presented most often in this story is his ill opinion of those who are visually impaired. Saying things like “..his being blind bothered me”(Carver) or “a blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to”(Carver) as well as expressing his belief in the stereotypes he had heard about blind people. I believe it was the amount of faith that he had in these stereotypes that led him to have these personal
Raymond Carver Cathedral Response
998 Words | 4 Pages"Cathedral" is a short story by Raymond Carver that was first published in 1983. The story is about a narrator who is visited by his wife's friend, Robert, who is blind. The narrator is initially uncomfortable with Robert's visit and is uncertain about how to interact with him. Over the course of the story, however, the narrator and Robert begin to connect with each other, and the narrator begins to see the world in a new way.
Analysis Of Raymond Carver's Cathedral
865 Words | 4 PagesAs the story develops, the narrator grows to like Robert, and as the story ends we see the two draw a cathedral together which allows the narrator see a new side of everything and allow for him to be more connected to the blind man and his wife. This plot is commonly seen in many different media’s, but it’s used more cleverly here, as it allows for characters to flow with the story while not sacrificing the story being mediocre. In saying this, the plot of this story is very character-centric and is vital to helping to advance the story. Within this story the character
Theme Of Irony In Cathedral By Raymond Carver
1054 Words | 5 PagesRobert 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.
Ignorance And Preconceptions In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
448 Words | 2 PagesFrom the beginning of the novel the narrator shows ignorance and prejudice towards Robert, he is fighting with his own of jealousy and insecurity. Being unhappy with his own life, the narrator sees Robert as a possible threat to his usual evening with pot and TV, without realizing that in order to be satisfied he should step out of his habitual
What Is The Theme Of Cathedral By Raymond Carver
1063 Words | 5 PagesRobert’s wife has recently died and he used to work for the narrator’s wife. Robert comes to visit the narrator’s home and the narrator is not happy about this because he believes blind people to be miserable and gloomy based solely on what he has absorbed from the movies. At the end of the first paragraph, he says, “A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (1.1). Little to the narrator’s knowledge, his wife and Robert had been using audio tape to correspond over ten years, and have much past history with each other. The narrator’s wife makes sure he knows to make Robert comfortable, and if he doesn’t it shows that he does not love her.
Imagery And Symbolism In Robert Carver's Cathedral
718 Words | 3 PagesRobert possesses blindness but is gifted in understanding ignorance. The husband is ignorant to the blindness, yet Robert helps him understand his world of darkness. In the end, the blindness is what unites them and they both observe the same world. The narrator learned that people are not what they seem. He already had an opinion before he had ever even met
The Narcissistic Narrator In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
910 Words | 4 PagesBecause of his narcissistic personality, the narrator views his wife as an object, while the blind man, Robert, treats her as a friend and a confidant. The narrator’s inability to feel emotion causes him to value his wife’s body more than her emotions, therefore, he becomes jealous when the blind
Prejudice In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
727 Words | 3 PagesCarver 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.
Internal Conflict In Cathedral By Raymond Carver
1522 Words | 7 PagesIn “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, the narrator struggles with an internal conflict that involves him never being able to be in a vulnerable or sensitive state, especially when he is with his wife. The narrator creates suspense by having the reader wait until the end to realize what the blind man was referring to when he states, “From all you’ve said about him, I can only conclude—” (Carver 35). The reader can observe that the blind man was explaining that the husband was missing out on all aspects of life and the little things the world has to offer. The husband was so closed-minded, that he was missing out on having a deeper connection with his wife.
The Theme Of Epiphany In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
860 Words | 4 Pages“I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And being blind bothered me” (104) The narrator has no knowledge of experiencing seeing a blind person. “My idea of blindness came from the movies” (104).
Epiphany In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
602 Words | 3 Pageshe 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.
Raymond Carver Cathedral Summary
528 Words | 3 PagesIn his contemporary short story, “Cathedral,” Raymond Carver tells the story of an unnamed narrator, his wife, and an old friend, a blind man named Robert. Robert has come to visit the narrator’s wife, who is quite excited to see this man whom she hasn’t seen in ten years, yet the same can’t be said of the narrator who is noticeably and vocally uncomfortable about his visit. The story is told through the narrator’s first person point of view, showcasing his thoughts and the events that take place when Robert comes to visit. Carver highlights the theme of having the ability to see, but not truly seeing, through his use of colloquial language, and creation of relatable characters. “Cathedral” begins with the narrator informing the audience
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