The Influence Of Blindness In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

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The lack of insight and awareness can essentially provide an individual with "blindness" due to various misconceptions and predetermined feelings of superiority regarding the unknown that can ultimately damage relationships and manipulate our overall development within society. Despite music being exemplified as Sonny's savior due to its significant benefits such as providing confidence and happiness, the narrator failed to recognize and accept his decision to pursue a career in jazz because it contradicted his own beliefs of structure and stability. Likewise, in Raymond Carver's Cathedral, the narrator allowed outside factors as well as his enhanced value on vision influence his feelings toward Robert because he has never encountered someone with a physical disability. In both short stories, the narrators essentially undergo a spiritual awakening by overcoming …show more content…

He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the 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" (Narrator 77). The misconceptions demonstrated by both narrators arose from a variety of influences such as guilt and entertainment that ultimately allowed each individual to view their counterpart negatively. The lack of understanding can essentially plague individuals with internal conflict due to the sense of isolation. Due to the lack of understanding and acceptance exhibited throughout Sonny's Blues, Sonny developed an addiction to heroin, which served as his "escape" from the everlasting problems within Harlem due to poverty and racism that plagued the adolescents. "I'm glad Mama and Daddy are dead and can't see what's happened to their son and I swear if I'd known what I was doing I would never have hurt you so, you and a lot of other fine people who were nice to me and who believed in me" (Sonny

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