Raymond Carver Cathedral Essay

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The story “Cathedral,” by Raymond Carver is a story of two men, whose ability to see things were completely different from one another, but something had united them at the end of the story which is why it is so fascinating. The narrator, who doesn’t have the name, is confronted by a visitor in his house when his wife invites a blind man, named Robert, to come over to their house. The narrator assumes that he’s superior to Robert when he arrives. Why not? He was able to see things physically but Robert wasn’t. Robert, however, has an ability to see things at a deeper level. He may be physically blind, but later on, it turn out to be that the narrator was the one who is actually blind. The Cathedral is drawn by the narrator and Robert, and it …show more content…

At the beginning of the story, he judges Robert with his appearance. Despite the fact that Robert is blind, he’s able to see things with a great vision, but the narrator, on the other hand, he’s thinking is superficial. According to the narrator, “his being blind bothered him.” “A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to.” Here, it seems obvious that he is judging Robert from outside. The narrator also felt some sort of jealousness when his wife talked about how Robert touched her face, and how she had written a poem about the blind man’s influence. Hence, the narrator doesn’t just like blind people, he has the prejudice towards many people that aren’t like him. In this case, he is showing his racism. However, at the end of the story, an outrageous thing happens. The narrator was eventually wrong, and he felt that his thoughts were creepy and realized that he was the one who is actually …show more content…

As mark twain mentions, “Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” It seems that Robert teaches the narrator an important lesson about humanity, and they form a good rapport after drawing the cathedral together. He paints not what he sees, but what he feels, and the narrator couldn’t believe what he draws with Robert. As he says “it’s really something,” it appears that the cathedral is not only about how well he drew the picture, rather it’s about how Robert reveals the narrator’s potential of seeing things in a better perspective. Thus, the narrator learns a significant lesson from Robert, probably his ability to see things has enhanced after this lesson. Robert illuminated the narrator with light and

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