In Raymond Carvers “Cathedral” the narrator and Robert, the blind man, have no connections at all in the beginning. The narrator even thinks that he is better than Robert because Robert is blind, the narrator is also jealous of Robert’s relationship with the narrator’s wife. Although we can gather these things from the short story the actual message that I am going to discuss in this paper is the importance of not physical seeing but emotionally and mentally seeing. Raymond Carver’s short story “Cathedral” explains the importance of transcendence, looking beyond what you can physically see and opening yourself up for greatness and opportunity in life. The Narrator acts as though he is better than Robert because Robert is blind. The Narrator makes jokes by saying “what side of the train did you sit on” Robert replies by saying “the right” just because he can’t physically see doesn’t mean that he is below anyone else(Carver 2016). In the beginning of the story the narrator talks about how he isn’t ok with having a Blind” man stay in his house and that he has never really known a blind man. We look at this as jealousy, however it is over looked because the story focuses on how the narrator is …show more content…
Everyone is equal and you don’t have to physically see in order to “see” things. You can live your whole life without actually “seeing” the true meaning of anything. You can also go your whole life thinking that you are better than someone else, but in reality when it’s all said and done and you’ve left this earth only peoples memory of you will be left. Will they say “she/he never really seen the true meaning of life” or will they say “she/he lived their life to fullest and viewed everyone as equals”? So with that being said let this stay with you “With eyes still closed the narrator says ‘the drawing is really something’”. Will you be able to see without physically seeing
The short story, “Cathedral,” by Raymond Carver, is about a blind man who changes the way the narrator views life by giving him some insight on how he sees things. The characters in this short story are constantly developing into better versions of themselves by sharing their insights with one another.
The husband in Raymond Carvers “Cathedral” wasn’t enthusiastic about his wife’s old friend, whom was a blind man coming over to spend the night with them. His wife had kept in touch with the blind man since she worked for him in Seattle years ago. He didn’t know the blind man; he only heard tapes and stories about him. The man being blind bothered him, “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. (Carver 137)” The husband doesn’t suspect his ideas of blind people to be anything else. The husband is already judging what the blind man will be like without even getting to actually know him. It seems he has judged too soon as his ideas of the blind man change and he gets a better understanding of not only the blind man, but his self as well.
The narrator is extremely judgmental towards the blind and this creates negative preconceived notions about Robert. First, his idea of a blind man comes from movies he has watched and describes that the blind, “moved slowly and never laughed” (Par. 1). The narrator has a horrible attitude towards the blind and because of this he sees himself higher than any blind person. Second, he believes that when Robert’s wife was alive they both had no capability of loving each other solely because of Robert’s blindness. He thinks Robert cannot love because he had never “seen what the goddamned woman looked like” (Par. 16). The narrator then thinks Robert’s wife could not love him because she could “never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one” (Par. 16). This kind of harsh thinking that the narrator has towards Robert is detrimental to himself as well as those surrounding him. The narrator is trapped with judgmental thinking, making him hard to be around and cooperate with.
In “Cathedral”, by Raymond Carver, there is a big issue with the idea of acceptance of people who are different. In this story this idea of acceptance of those who are different focuses on the aspect of a disability, specifically blindness. Throughout the story Carver explores this idea through a theme focusing on the difference and relationship between the blind man, Robert, and the narrator. In the beginning Carver starts off with an acceptance and a misunderstanding of this difference between Robert and the narrator. Yet towards the end, the narrator experiences a change in him that allows him to see what he misunderstood and dint exactly accept and now he has the ability to understand and embrace Robert as a real human being,
The husband's view on the world at the start of the story was a narrow one that was based on his ignorance, which prevented him from gaining understanding. His long held misconceptions, especially about blindness, defined his expectations about things he did not understand. For instance, when the husband found out that Robert was coming to stay, he disliked the idea of someone who was blind, let alone someone who he didn't know, coming to visit and the husband's "idea of blindness came from the movies." He saw the blind people as people who "moved slowly and never laughed." This was not the limit of his ignorance as it was further displayed by his constant referral of Robert as "the blind man" and his assumption of Robert's deceased wife being a black person based solely on the name of Beulah. This assumption display his bigotry is not limited to Robert's blindness and that differences that he did not understan...
The narrator and Robert, separately and jointly progress their perspectives on life and their relationship throughout the story. Their advancement connects to “life passages,” on what an individual goes through in their life as they learn from events and other people they encounter. At the beginning of the story, the narrator is perceived as an ignorant and prejudiced individual. This is validated when he states, “And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind man moved slowly and never laughed.... A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (522). This quote explains the prejudiced behavior the narrator exhibits, however, his ignorance overshadows his realization of that. He admits that his only experience with blind people are from what he's seen in movies, and that alters how he observes them. Furthermore, the narrator pitches the adjective “blind” multiple times in this quote and throughout the story, which reflects how the narrator thinks that is Robert’s only quality. This shows how he views Robert as a person, which is nothing more than a blind man. When the narrator and Robert have the opportunity to know each on a personal level by watching
A short story about a couple who interactions with a blind man, about the overly masculine presence of the narrator and his desire to the center of conversation, how the wife struggles with depression and lack of self confidence, and eventually pushes back and triumphs. Carver paints a mental image throughout Cathedral of how being close-minded and ignorant comes to bite the narrator in the end.
Through the short story, “Cathedral,” by Raymond Carver, occasions of the husband’s character change the connection once lost through blindness. Through a blind man’s innovative technique, the husband’s demeanor radically improves through one man’s handicap. Although the character’s change in behavior occurs shortly before the end of the story the husband and Robert sit on the floor to draw a cathedral, there are a few climaxes in the story that greatly begin to shape the husband’s overall perspective in life. Carver describes the setting of the story, which takes place in a middle-class apartment in New York, which gives a powerful shift in the husband’s
Even after the wife, Robert’s pen pal, goes to sleep, Robert offers to the narrator that “I'll stay up with you, bub. If that's all right. I'll stay up until you're ready to turn in” (9). Robert keeps making himself available to the narrator, extending proverbial olive branch by sharing of scotch and cannabis—the narrator’s pastimes—late into the night. Gradually but effectively, Robert’s way of thinking influences the narrator, culminating in a transformation of perspective for the protagonist. While there is some foreshadowing of the narrator’s empathetic development when he “[feels] sorry for the blind man a little bit” and “[watches] with admiration as [Robert] used his knife and fork” (3, 6), the narrator’s real breakthrough comes when the pair begin to watch a television program about cathedrals. Coming to a spontaneous—and empathetic—realization, the narrator asks of Robert: “Something has occurred to me. Do you have any idea what a cathedral is? What they look like, that is? ... If somebody says cathedral to you, do you have any notion what they're talking about?” (10). It occurs to the narrator that if he had no vision himself (like Robert), then he may not know what a cathedral looked like. This is the first moment where the narrator empathizes with Robert in a meaningful way, when he imagines himself in Robert’s shoes. Soon after, the two share an
The narrator makes comments about everything his wife describes to him about blind man leading up to his arrival. Once the mystery of what the Robert is going to be like is revealed when he shows up and settles down many opportunities between narrator and Robert. One example is. in the text it says “I didn’t want to be alone with a blind man. I asked him if he wanted another drink, and he said sure. Then I asked if he wanted to smoke some dope with me.” The blind man responded by saying “I’ll try some with you” (461). While doing this activity it led to more conversations about anything that the narrator or Robert brought up. It was mostly just small talk and comments on what they had done throughout the night. While conversing the narrator is slowly opening to Robert and he is doing so to show that he loves his wife enough to try and bond with Robert. When a T.V program comes on about cathedrals, the narrator takes it upon himself to strike up a conversation about them with Robert. The narrator asks if Robert can imagine how one looks, while Robert gives a vague response to his question the narrator begins to feel sorry because he realizes that Robert
In Raymond Carver’s short story, “Cathedral”, the narrator’s ignorance and apathetic perspective of blindness is shaken when he makes a connection with a blind man, which allows him to see for the first time. We will examine how Carver’s choice of first-person point of view gives us a depiction of the narrator’s traits through his tone of voice while encountering Robert, the blind man and the irony of blindness that the narrator himself faces through his lack of understanding until his self-realization at the end of the story.
Although the narrator in the story “Cathedral” able to see the world and Robert can’t, his spiritual blindness and lack of feelings makes him blinder than Robert.
The blind man is appealing to readers because of the fact that he proves to be a good friend and listener to the narrator’s wife. The wife and blind man have kept in touch by exchanging audio tapes over the years. The wife feels comfortable sharing all aspects of her life with him. The husband expands on this by saying “She and I began going out, and of course she told her blind man about it” (5). This quote proves that the blind man provides a sense of comfort to the wife who cannot find the same sense of security in her own husband. The blind man is friendly and makes an attempt to befriend the husband even though he is consistently rude to him. The blind man tells the narrator he will stay up with him to talk even after his wife has gone to sleep. He says he feels “like me and her monopolized the evening” (83). The blind man respectfully says to the narrator “[y]ou’re my host” and wants to be fair and make sure the husband doesn’t feel left out during his visit (102). He is also very understanding and patient with the husband. This characteristic is especially proven when the narrator tries, but fails at explaining the appearance of a cathedral to the blind man. He apologizes for not doing a good job. The blind man understands and reassures him by saying “I get it, bub. It’s okay. It happens. Don’t worry about it” (110). He is aware that his
The most obvious act of dominance is when the narrator’s wife falls asleep while the blind man and the narrator engage in conversation. The wife's robe begins to ride up and instead of her husband covering her up he reveals her legs to exert his masculinity over “the blind man”. As the tale proceeds the blind man’s masculinity begins to surface starting with the observation of his beard. A beard is often a symbol of wisdom, whenever the blind man is thinking he strokes his beard. The narrator later has an epiphany that Robert is truly the more masculine one when he cannot describe the cathedral he can clearly see in front
In Raymond Carver's "Cathedral," the husband's view of blind men is changed when he encounters his wife's long time friend, Robert. His narrow minded views and prejudice thoughts of one stereotype are altered by a single experience he has with Robert. The husband is changed when he thinks he personally sees the blind man's world. Somehow, the blind man breaks through all of the husband's jealousy, incompetence for discernment, and prejudgments in a single moment of understanding.