The State Of Blindness In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

This quote goes to show clearly the “before” of the narrator’s characterization development. In cathedrals, there often are stained glass windows, reflecting the light from the outside. The beauty of the colorful lights, only seen through eyes, cannot be felt. The blind man had to learn how to see beauties without his eyes. While he had mastered this, the narrator had a difficult time learning how to do it.

He no longer thinks the blind man is worthless. At that moment, he relates with the blind man and finally understands the struggles the blind man goes through. Before drawing the Cathedral, the husband would waste his time

In the story, the narrator’s narrow mindset is challenged over and over again as Robert breaks most stereotypes that the narrator held. As these stereotypes are broken, the narrator begins to feel more comfortable with Robert, and sincerely tells him that he is “glad for the company”. This release from prejudice culminates in the cathedral drawing scene of the story, where the narrator finally lets go of his bias towards blind people. Once the narrator closes his eyes, he is seemingly equal to Robert, and he consequently begins to understand Robert’s perspective. His newfound empathy towards Robert demonstrates how he has lost his prejudice towards him.

After, reading the story the reader can interpret that the truly blind person was the narrator himself. When the narrator finally puts his insecurities aside he actually starts to communicate with Robert the blind man. The story “Cathedral” shows various scenes of prejudgment, jealously, and indifference between the narrator and Robert. The story showed me that sometimes people shouldn’t judge by the exterior of people because in the interior they might have much more riches than

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. However, the focal point within the story occurs when the narrator gets to have a vulnerable moment with the blind man that he has never encountered before, and it makes him feel liberated.

However, in Neighbors, dramatic irony is prevalent. Dramatic irony is when the audience knows something that the characters do not. Dramatic and situational irony appear throughout a few of Carver’s numerous remarkable short stories. Cathedral by Raymond Carver is the story about a blind man, Robert, who visits a husband and wife in their home. One would expect the husband to be able to see more than the blind man, but ironically this is not the case.

(SP 1A). King Lear is the beholder of great power is expected to “see” through all that is not good; however, his lack of “sight” prevents him from doing so. (SP 1A). His blindness surfaces when he is lured

According to Samuel Butler, "A blind man knows he cannot see, and is glad to be led, though it be by a dog, but he that is blind in his understanding, which is the worst blindness of all, believes he sees as the best, and scorns a guide." There is no one as blind as an individual who will not see. Individuals who pay no attention to what they already know are the most deluded. In King Lear, blindness is a reoccurring theme, and this quote connects to the protagonist, Lear, who is not physically blind, but is blind in a sense that he lacks understanding and careful judgement. It is only when Lear goes mad and experiences an immense breakdown does he finally realize his mistakes.

The speaker sees a cobweb hanging in a corner, this symbolizes confusion and being caught in something in which one cannot escape from. The speaker goes inside, this means that the incident’s effort is affecting his inner emotional life and memory. Once he’s inside, the speaker describes the weather while inside as dead calm, but he is actually describing his own emotions. He hangs the cobweb to his lampshade implying he is a thoughtful and tender man. The speaker uses the cobweb as an object to meditate from and can be used as symbol for his life.

Culture helps with the study of a society. By studying a people’s culture anthropologist are able to deeper understand a person and their past better as just studying their buildings or ruins is not enough to truly paint a fair picture of both their past and present ages. To effectively understand and be aware of the underlying patterns of life in a culture one has to either get immersed into said culture and directly experience it or take some time to observe it. I therefore undertook to observe a wedding ceremony whose reception was set in the gardens of the church that the