A first-person narration provides an interesting perspective on the main action of a story. A narrator can express his/her own thoughts and feelings, which in turn develops a more personal and relatable story to the reader. Raymond Carver often uses this literary point-of-view tactic in his short stories to reveal the traits of the narrator. In "Cathedral," Carver uses conversational tone and diction to reveal the narrator's character; which is prejudicial at first, but becomes empathic by the end. Knowing this narrator's characteristics facilitates the reader's understanding of major components of the story, such as the narrator's hostility to Robert, his loser-like sociality, and the climax of opening up to Robert.
One way Carver develops the personality of the narrator in "Cathedral," is by his use of conversational tone. It is as if the narrator were simply telling a story to a group of close friends that shared his viewpoints. The style of sentences delivers a tone that is sarcastic, bitter and arrogant. These qualities are developed by the structure of his words, to reflect the mood and attitude of the narrator. Carver uses Hemmingway-like hyphens to deliver sarcastic side comments that stem away from the actual story line, but ad a cynical quality to the narrator. These hyphens are disguised as parenthetical information, but are actually used as an aside for the narrator to introduce unnecessary argumentative comments. As an example, there is a point in the story where the narrator is describing the emotional situation of Beluah's 0 death, with a taste of wicked humor. "After they had been inseparable for eight years--my wife's word, inseparable--Beluah's health went into rapid decline" (Cathedral 213). The ...
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...motional for the narrator. The image depicted here is that the narrator is observing, and trying to understand, his new guest. During the drawing of the Cathedral, the narrator refuses to open his eyes, so that he can better understand the viewpoint of Robert. This empathic characteristic of the narrator was not present in the beginning of the story, and has been developed through his interaction with Robert.
We see the narrator in the beginning as a bitter and jealous man, but as the story unfolds, he changes to become more empathetic and emotional. This change in the personality of the narrator correlates with Carver's use of diction and tone. From conversation to confession, "Cathedral" is a work of art in the first-person narrative. By revealing this character through word choice and tone, the narrator comes alive and the story has more significance.
As the story progresses, the husband’s attitude towards Robert changes. During dinner, he “watched with admiration as [Robert] used his knife and fork” (366) on a piece of meat. As bedtime draws near, his wife heads upstairs, leaving both men alone. The husband begins to flip through channels and comes across a program about a cathedral. Robert is unaware of what a cathedral is and the husband is attempts to explain, but has a hard time in doing so. To get a better understanding, Robert suggests that he draws a cathedral while he places his hands on top of those of the husband.
Carver provides an easy, visual outlook of the protagonist throughout the short story, which helps keep a better understanding during the simple yet intense experience. As the story continues, the protagonist enhances his mood as he aids Robert to visualizing a cathedral. This experience creates an impact on others because it is a great reason why one should never judge someone for something beyond their control. Also, helping someone, as Robert does for Bub, can be a life changing experience. Despite the blind man being physically blind, the husband is the one with the disability to see from someone else’s perspective.
Upon reading Raymond Carver's short story of the Cathedral one will notice the literary devices used in the short story. When analyzing the story completely, one then understands the themes, motifs, metaphors, and the overall point of the piece. This leaves the reader with an appreciation of the story and a feeling of complete satisfaction.
The short story “Cathedral” is written with the written technique called “show don’t tell”. The symbol of this way of writing is an iceberg. When it comes to icebergs just 10% is visible the rest are underneath the water and are unseen. The reader is only introduced to a bit of information the remaining 90% the reader has to come up with on his own: ‘’I finished my drink, rinsed the glass, dried my hands. Then I went to the door.’’ If you look deeper than the 10% this quoted passage shows that the narrator is drinking but he does not want his wife to find out about it possibly because he has a drinking problem. The quote furthermore shows that Richard Carver uses minimalism and writes in an everyday language. The narrator comments on almost
The narrator in Raymond Carver's "Cathedral" has two fully functional eyes, in which he chooses never to use to their full potential. The eyes of the narrator are biased, insecure, jealous, and very limited in what they choose to see. This inability to see is made apparent when he is forced to meet and converse with a blind man. The narrator's perception of the world around him, and blurred vision, is resolved by a great irony in the story when Roger helps the narrator see past his prejudice outlook on life. The blind man teaches the narrator how to see.
The short story of the “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver shows the narrator as the main character of the story whose name is never mentioned. The narrator’s wife’s name is never mentioned as well, and her friend who is a blind man is coming to visit after losing his wife whose name is Robert. In the beginning of the story, the narrator shows that he is an excessive drinker and feels emotionally disconnected from his wife and his wife is excited about her friends visit, Robert. This kind of emotion makes him uneasy but doesn’t know why and because he knows that Robert is blind, he feels like he is better than him. Imagine having to meet a long time old friend of your spouse of the opposite sex who they a special friendship with and whom you haven’t
Raymond Carver utilizes his character of the husband, who is also the narrator, in his short story "Cathedral." From the beginning of the story the narrator has a negative personality. He lacks compassion, has a narrow mind, is detached emotionally from others, and is jealous of his wife's friendship with a blind man named Robert. He never connects with anyone emotionally until the end of this story.
Instead of basing his judgement on character the narrator decided to see Robert as a blind man that was trying to have an affair with his wife. Carver uses this story “Cathedral” to open the readers eyes and send the profound message of intolerance and ignorance and how one can be blind mentally not physically. The narrator is so hostile to the idea of a visit from Robert because he is blinded by jealousy, anger, and
Raymond Carver, in his short story Cathedral uses a first-person narrator, whose point of view is very much limited and flawed. The narrator in Cathedral has full use of all his senses, unlike the blind man, Robert, who is introduced very early in the story. When comparing the two again, however, Robert is the character that is open to new ideas and willing to experience the joys of life, while the narrator limits himself due to his close-minded thinking. It brings up the question, who is truly blind in the story? Is it a physical ailment or a mental block? The narrator is never given a name in the story, making him the most impersonal character in the story. This also adds to the fact that the narrator is highly ignorant about his surroundings and has a one-sided, self-absorbed view of the world. The perception of the narrator leaves much to be inferred in many points in the story, and at first, it seems pointless to have such a closed off character and the one telling his point of view. I would like to hear the story from the wife’s point of view or Robert’s. Ultimately, however, the limited point of view of the narrator shows where the true ignorance in the world lies.
... on his interaction and communication with others. In terms of the tone of the story, it seemingly conveys the positive messages. In Cathedral, instead of monologue as in A Clean Well-lighted Place, the narrator is more likely talking to us, trying to keep us amused and engaged. Underneath the wisecracks, readers can hear a tone of sincerity and positive attitudes towards life. Though the narrator makes jokes of the blind man initially, he shows respect and do what Robert asks him to do as the story continues.
Raymond Carver’s short story, “Cathedral,” portrays a story in which many in today’s society can relate. We are introduced from the first sentence of the story to a man that seems to be perturbed and agitated. As readers, we are initially unsure to the reasoning’s behind the man’s discomfort. The man, who seems to be a direct portrayal of Raymond Carver himself, shows his ignorance by stereotyping a blind man by the name of Robert, who has come to stay with he and his wife. From the very beginning, Carver shows his detest for Robert but over the course of the story eases into comfort with him and in the end is taught a lesson from the very one he despised.
“Cathedral” consists of three individuals. The narrator is the main character, which the story revolves around. The wife of the narrator is the second character, who is the least relevant. The third character is the blind man, named Robert, who is a friend of the wife.
Raymond Carver uses strategic dialogue and point-of-view to illuminate the themes of his stories. After reading “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” and “ Cathedral” the reader is able to mend each piece of work together and understand how Carver creates his short stories.
...rs, leaving the narrator and Rob to smoke a joint and watch television. The narrator tells Robert what’s going on in the show and asks him if he knows what a cathedral is, since the show is all about cathedrals. Although the narrator isn’t religious, he draws a cathedral for Robert, allowing his hand to be over his. This would allow him to understand what a cathedral looks like. However, when the wife wakes up and asks what they’re doing, she’s confused when the narrator says they’re drawing a cathedral. Robert asks the narrator to open his eyes, and he never does, claiming he feels weightless, suggesting to himself that he’s reached an epiphany. The narrator’s drawing allows him to see beyond “visibility.” He doesn’t understand exactly what he felt, but he knows it was a meaningful experience. Robert demonstrated that seeing involves a lot more than just looking.
Raymond Carver's "Cathedral" depicted the interaction between a narrow minded husband, with a limited understanding of the world around him, and a blind visitor, named Robert, that proved to be the catalyst that dramatically changed the husband's view on the world, while they went from being strangers to becoming friends. In the beginning of the story, the husband disliked the concept of his wife bringing her blind friend over to stay since he never had met a blind person before and did not understand it. However, as the story progresses, the husband, through interaction and observation, begins to dispel his fears and misconceptions of Robert and his blindness. With the help of Robert, the husband gains a revelation that changed his view and opened his eyes to the world.