The Cathedral Short Story Analysis

502 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Symbolism of the cathedral in Cathedral by Carver

The narrator of this story acts as the protagonist, but he is unnamed. He is a dynamic character which he changes throughout the story. The conflicts of this story are character vs. self, where the narrator is second guessing his wife’s feeling towards him and their relationship. Also, the narrator is experiencing conflict with himself because he realized that he was blinded his whole life but, now he can see clearly. Another conflict is narrator vs. wife, where this relationship doesn’t have strong communication skills and many insecurities. The ending is indeterminate because it’s simple and leaves you thinking what will happen with the characters. The climax of the story is when both the narrator and Robert begin to draw the cathedral together. The turning points …show more content…

The story explains that you can’t just see something by its external looks but, must dig deep and find a deeper meaning to what you are looking at. The story is about the narrator who meets a blind man, who has recently lost his wife. He figures out that he has lived his life without seeing it or being able to understand the people that which live among him. The central idea of this story is that is the narrator would’ve opened his eyes then he wouldn’t have had understood what Robert was trying to teach him about sight. Yes, the theme reinforces the notions of sight because many people don’t see what’s important in a person. They see the surface and miss what’s important, everything beneath it. This story provides many symbols, such as, the “cathedral” and “audiotapes”. The meaning of the cathedral is being able to see something for it true nature, seeing thing beneath the actual surface. The meaning of the audiotapes symbolizes blindness for example, when the narrator’s wife and Robert could communicate in person they would send each other tapes to keep in touch with each

Show More
Related

  • Summary of Raymond Carver's Cathedral

    486 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Raymond Carver’s story, “Cathedral,” the story tells of how a close outside relationship can threaten a marriage by provoking insecurities, aggravating communication barriers, and creating feelings of invasion of privacy. The husband in the story is given the gift of seeing the cathedral through a blind man’s eyes. Although the title suggests that the story is about a cathedral, it is really about two men who come together and share a vision and realize it is he who is blind. As the story begins, the character of the husband has a negative personality. He lacks compassion, is narrow-minded, and is jealous of his wife’s friendship with a blind man named Robert.

    Read More

  • Characterism In 'Cathedral, By William Shenstone's Cathedral'

    1431 Words  | 3 Pages

    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 to why one should never judge someone of something beyond their controls. 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. This is proven through his epiphany during his portrayal of being blind. Although Bub is not physically blind, he interprets a shortage of observations. This shows that in many ways he is blinder than Robert. Robert is more open minded and willing to experience things, in contrast to Bub, who is narrow minded and has problems opening up his mind throughout the short story. Because the protagonist does not fully try to understand his wife, it makes him look like the blind person ironically though he can visually recognize her, proving that he does not truly know her inside and out. Knowing her personally is more of reality and the husband is blind to reality. Carver definitely analyzes the protagonist’s emotions through diction and visual aid throughout the story, providing great understanding of the meaning as a

    Read More

  • Lack of Vision in Carver's Cathedral

    1250 Words  | 3 Pages

    The narrator in Raymond Carver’s "Cathedral" is not a particularly sensitive man. I might describe him as self-centered, superficial, and egotistical. And while his actions certainly speak to these points, it is his misunderstanding of the people and the relationships presented to him in this story which show most clearly his tragic flaw: while Robert is physically blind, it is the narrator who cannot clearly see the world around him.

    Read More

  • Blindness in Raymond Carver's Cathedral

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    By becoming close with Robert, the man in this story experienced what was necessary to gain an understanding of what life is like for the blind. The man began to draw the cathedral to try and help Robert visualize what one looked like. What he didn't realize at the time was that Robert was helping him to visualize what blindness felt like. Bibliography: Carver, Raymond. "Cathedral".

    Read More

  • Robert, And The Narrator In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

    790 Words  | 2 Pages

    The fact that Robert is blind is stated quite frequently in this story. Even though we know he has a visual handicap, he is very open minded. The narrator however, can see just fine, but is very close minded. The close mindedness seems to be more of a problem for the narrator than Robert’s blindness. The narrator has no friends, and a life of no significance. In drawing the cathedral, the narrator finds not being able to see can be liberating. and seems to help him let go of his prejudices, and come to accept a new way of seeing. This story shows us that we can prevent ourselves from seeing what is really there by blinding ourselves, but that we have the ability to open our minds and seeing what is really

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Raymond Carver's 'Cathedral'

    634 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...l of open-mindedness. “Cathedral” concerns the change in one man’s understanding of himself and the world. From the start of the story the narrator is restricted in his understanding to accept the blind man just as his wife has. He cannot fully wrap around the idea of what makes Robert so special. Until, that is, that the narrator starts drawing the cathedral which starts off as a house almost, and expands into something grander. This short story allows us to realize that the world is greater and further detailed than what we consider it in our confined minds. And that in fact we should never assume that there is nothing more to what the eye can see. It simply states that we shouldn’t form an opinion on someone or something based only on what you see on the exterior, because usually after taking the time to explore, the person or thing will not be what you expected.

    Read More

  • Raymond Carver's Cathedral

    834 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of The Cathedral By Raymond Carver

    1089 Words  | 3 Pages

    I believe that if it weren’t for Robert’s visit and presence, the narrator more than likely wouldn’t have had this kind of experience. Maybe, the narrator wouldn’t have changed his mind of thinking and feeling at that moment. Who knows if he did change for the long run, but maybe it was a much-needed moment that he was eager to have, for himself, for his relationship sake. To realize that there is much more to seeing then what he just sees in front of him, because Robert taught him that even though you have your vision, some can still be blind to

    Read More

  • Raymond Carver Cathedral Essay

    911 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... 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 confusion.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Cathedral By Raymond Carver Cathedral

    813 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many people view blindness as a disability, but could these people be blind to their surroundings? Even though the narrator can perfectly see with his eyes, he lacks in understanding awareness. The narrator blindness isn 't physical, like many vision impaired people. His blindness is psychological, and his blindness causes him to become jealous. His blindness blocks his perception of viewing the world in a different way. This only causes him to see the physical attributes of humans, and thus shut off his mindfulness of viewing human personalities. As a result of a closed mind, the narrator doesn 't understand how Robert was able to live with the fact that he was never able to see his wife in the flesh, but the narrator fails to see that Robert vision of his wife was intimate. On the other hand, Robert blindness is physical. This causes Robert to experience the world in a unique manner. Without Robert eyesight, he is able to have a glimpse of a human personality. He uses his disability to paint pictures in his head to experience the world. By putting his psychological blindness aside, the narrator is able to bond with Robert, and he grasps the understanding of opening his eyes for the first time, and this forms a new beginning of a

    Read More

  • Sight in Cathedral

    1493 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...d the blind experience and it was like Robert was no longer the blind person in the house (Caldwell 3). As a result, this shows him the way to gaining a better understanding of his own self worth and heal from pass hurts by experiencing the transcendent of nature of life.

    Read More

  • Redemption Theme in Cathedral by Raymond Carter

    1957 Words  | 4 Pages

    “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.

    Read More

  • Religious Revelation in Carver’s Cathedral

    1067 Words  | 3 Pages

    Adding to the obvious structural references to cathedrals and religion, the language and character actions present further evidence of an epiphany of divine proportions. The television program which the characters watch together deals entirely with cathedrals. This spurs the first real conversation between the narrator and the blind man. This presents religion as some form of common ground, on which one could stand, even without sight. When first asked by Robert, the blind man, if he was "in any way religious," the narrator asserts that he is not, and goes on to explain how cathedrals and religion "don’t mean any...

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of Hills Like White Elephants And Raymond Carver's Cathedral

    1495 Words  | 3 Pages

    This theme goes hand in hand with the theme portrayed in Hills Like White Elephants. In the story the narrator, whose name is never mentioned, has something against his wife’s blind friend, Robert, due to the fact that he cannot see. Robert visits the narrator and the narrator’s wife for company. It seems that the narrator had a preconceived idea that all blind people are boring, depressed, stupid, and are barely even human at all based on the fact that they cannot see the world. Robert, although he is blind, is a caring and outgoing person who is extremely close with the narrator’s wife. The fact that Robert is extremely close with the narrator’s wife should be reason enough for the narrator to accept him as a person, but he is a cold and shallow person with no friends. His relationship with his wife is lacking good communication and seems very bland. Robert’s wife recently passed away, but their relationship was deep and they were truly in love with each other. The narrator was blind to how a woman could work with, sleep with, be intimate with, and marry Robert as has he talks about how he felt sorry for her. The narrator is superficial and does not understand true love or

    Read More

  • Analysis of the Relationship of the Blind Man and the Husband

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about The Cathedral Short Story Analysis

Open Document