The Importance Of Sight In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

The 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.

Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, Raymond Carver use point of view effectively and demonstrates symbolism. The story begins with the blind man. He is visiting an old friend and her husband after his wife recently died. The story is told from the husband’s point of view. The story being told from the husband’s point of view is important.

In the story “Cathedral” Carver uses a variety of elements to contribute to his story. When the story begins the narrator is trouble by the visitor due to the visitor’s disability. However, the narrator is rude and inconsiderate oftentimes making remarks about the blinds man disability to see. In this story I see that Carver uses the narrator’s prejudgments as a reflection of today’s society. As the story progresses, readers can start seeing the difference between looking and seeing, the potential for greatness and kindness in humanity, and how the cathedral drawn by both the narrator and Robert represents true sight.

Oedipus can be compared with a person who is blind but eventually regained their sight. At the beginning of the play, Oedipus is blind to his fate. Oedipus was blind to his fate because he didn’t think of himself being Laius's murder which was part of his fate. Even creon said “A man may find whatever he looks for, but misses what he does not.” (3) He’s saying that oedipus may find what he looks for but is blind to the truth.

The novel states,” Montag moved back… checker mildred, tucked the covers about her carefully, and then lay down with the moonlight…” (Bradberry 15). This also shows just how much montag still cares for mildred even though she gives little effort back toward him. This relates back to the theme of the novel, the decay of human relationships. Montag and mildred’s relationship is decaying because of technology and poor decisions.

Furthermore, the strength of Robert’s relationship with the narrator’s wife surpasses the strength of the narrator’s marriage, even though Robert and the narrator’s wife live miles apart. Tapes are the medium of their correspondence, where they share the darkest aspects of lives, such as the wife’s unhappiness with her military lifestyle, her suicide attempt, and her divorce. Still, like poetry, the narrator sees the tapes as simply a “means of recreation,” when the purpose greater aligns with emotional fulfillment (Carver 211). Touch is also an aspect of Robert and the narrator’s wife’s relationship, specifically that of the

“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).

The story is about the narrator meeting his wife’s blind friend. At the beginning the narrator does not want to meet the blind man because of the knowledge he has about blind people is from movies: “the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing eye dogs. A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (Cathedral). After meeting the blind man, he recognizes the blind man is actually a normal person who knows where exactly which food is at when he is eating, dress well does not use a walking stick and understand what others are talking about.

Throughout 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 titillating aspect of this work is the scene of Brown in the hallway mirror. He becomes keenly aware of the figurative dead boy staring back at him. His mother’s absence is enough to send him spiraling back in time to the darker days. Brown’s physical ailments match his mental state and he can no longer accept solitude after the anxiety pulls him back. As he is speaking to Laney, Brown exhibits a mature disposition as his front for society and mentally notes the tinge of sadness that comes with Laney calling him Hugh.

"Cathedral" a story about a man who is annoyed with his wife's old friend that is blind, but ends up teaching him a new way of viewing life. “Walk a mile in my shoes, see what I see, hear what I hear, feel what I feel, THEN maybe you'll understand why I do what I do, 'till then don’t judge me.” The advice to “walk a mile in someone else's shoes” means before judging someone, you must understand their challenges are in life and what they go though. This is clearly expressed in the story “Cathedral” by the narrator himself.

Robert, the main character in Raymond Carver’s short story “Cathedral”, is the only blind man in the story. He is a caring, amiable man who even sets the narrator at ease. Robert visits the narrator’s wife after his own wife, Beulah, dies. He and the narrator’s wife have been listening to each other through the audiotapes they send back and forth during the past ten years. The narrator’s wife has recorded what she experiences including her marriage, suicide attempt, and divorce.