After analyzing the life of Raymond Carver. It made sense why he wrote Cathedral.
Carver wanted people to see the differences between looking and seeing, even physical vision. His book (Cathedral) explained, sometimes we need to look at the huge picture rather than details of it. Robert (The Blind Man) in the story; was being judged by his friend’s husband. The husband was taking the world’s side of everything rather then thinking for himself. Back in the 80’s, disability used to be less tolerant then today. People back then looked at disability as a bad thing, although they still do now. Carver explained more about how we need to be more tolerance and understanding in our thoughts, he shows this in Cathedral. Coming back to looking and seeing.
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When I received special education services, peers and teachers were bothered. Peers acted diffidently because they knew I was “special”. The reason I used “special” is because to them, I was one of many special students in the school. Teachers looked at me diffidently rather then treating me like one of the other peers. Yes I had a disability, however they did not need to treat me diffidently. Robert was treated different in the story, the narrator was scared at first, he asked stupid questions, although Robert went along with it. Some of my peers and teachers were never supportive, I was known as one of the emotional students, because I was in the Emotional Impairment classroom. Just having that label was difficult to live back. It like how the narrator said “the blind move slowly and never laughed.” (Carver, Cathedral). Peers always thought EI students were unstable and violent, my thoughts as well. In sixth grade, a EI student bit the EI teacher, that is why I thought the same as my peer. Although now I was an EI student and now they thought I was that kid. By junior and senior year, I never was treated diffidently. The teachers and students understood that I was not emotionally impaired, I was just placed there on mistake, which I was. Although, I still had the label, which caused many opportunities to not become available to …show more content…
Robert changed the narrator’s thoughts about blind people after he showed the narrator that he was like him. I relate to him because after I was in sports, although some teachers were still judgmental. The students treated me like one of them and looked over my “label” disability. My peers never thought of me as the EI student anymore, they saw me as an Athlete. Back to my thesis, Disability should not be looked at in one classification; it should be base on the individual student. My disability, which was later removed by the State of Michigan, was a blessing to me. My hard work paid off and I’m looking forward to what life begins to me in the next four to five years getting my Bachelors in Special Education, English Education, and Physical
The narrator is biased against the blind from the beginning. For instance, he stereotypes all blind people thinking they ...
His, "idea of blindness came from the movies", where, "...the blind move slowly and never laughed" (Carver 98). These misconceptions of blindness form barriers between the blind and the sighted. Carver breaks down these barriers as he brings the vastly different lives of these two men together. Those of us with sight find it difficult to identify with the blind. This man, like most of us, can only try to imagine what life is like for Robert.
He didn’t like the fact that his wife had a new friend that was going to stay with them and he felt threatened by their closeness. He selfishly says, “ I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me” (Cathedral 86). He clearly didn’t have compassion for that fact that Robert was disabled and that his wife had just died. All he cared about was his own feelings and his own relationship with his wife. He also had the nerve to go on and say, “ My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Some times they were led by Seeing Eye dogs. A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (Cathedral 86). He was clearly uninformed and biases when it came to people with disabilities or people that were different from him. He didn’t look at the situation as an opportunity to get to see something different and learn but to complain for pretty much the entire short
The short story "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver is about a woman who has a blind friend who comes to visit her and her husband. Although the husband has, technically, normal vision he is in the beginning of this story the one who is "blind." Through the husband’s words and actions when he is dealing with Robert, the blind man, we can see that the husband does not "see" or understand what Robert’s blindness means or how it changes or does not change him as a human being. At first Robert makes the husband very uncomfortable, for the husband does not know what to say or do around the blind visitor. As the story progresses, we can see a change in the husband; he seems to be able to see Robert as a person and not just as a blind man.
First and foremost, the literary trope of disability is found in the short story, “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver. In summary, the story follows a couple who house a blind man for the night. The husband is our narrator and the narrator’s wife (neither of the spouses’ names are revealed to readers) declares that her friend, Robert, is coming to visit them. Robert is a blind man whose wife has recently died. The narrator’s wife met Robert while she worked as a reader to the blind. The narrator is not keen upon Robert coming to lodge at his home and is disconcerte...
...ry there are many instances in which the narrator seems to dislike Robert, in which case it is because he is “blind”. Not only is he blinded in the way that he cannot understand Robert, but it leads him to believe that Robert is not human at all because of his disability that he possess. The narrator develops with the aid of Robert, to see Robert as an actual human being. Raymond Carver gives the narrator a transformation through characterization as well as the aid of Robert to show his development and progression throughout the story.
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
After reading Carver’s, “The Cathedral” it got me warmed up to start really looking deeper into symbols, as we read more into the course. The first thing I noticed, not exactly a symbol, was that the, “operation,” they are talking about is really an abortion. The American obviously wants “Jig” or “The Girl” to have the abortion and The Girl does not know what she wants in the beginning. We can see she is co-depended on The American; her inability to commutate to the bartender without his help is evidence of this.
Vision is something many people take for granted every day. Society only deals with the matter of being blind if they are the less fortunate ones. According to the Braille Institute, "every seven minutes a person in the United States loses their sight, often as part of the aging process" (1). Only two percent of legally blind people use a guide dog and thirty-five percent use a white cane. Blindness can be caused from various different types of things including (in order) age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and age-related cataracts. (Braille 1). However being blind does not mean a person is in total darkness. Some people can see lights and the shapes of objects, but the most import thing is for family and friends to provide hope and encouragement. The last thing a person who has lost their sight wants is to lose their family and support, which will led to loneliness. Likewise, in the short story "Cathedral," by Raymond Carver's, blindness is the key element in the story and shows in detail how the characters manage it. The theme Carver conveys in the short story is being able to see without sight and is revealed through the characters, tone and plot of the story.
In Raymond Carver’s story “Cathedral” the narrator learns what it means to “see” through someone who cannot. To see is to be able to view the things around us while putting aside preconceived notions or fear about these objects or people. In order for this to occur once must overcome what they feel is out of the ordinary and learn to accept things as they are. At first the narrator is doesn’t accept the man and uncomfortable around Robert. The narrator soon comes to understand this when he puts aside his fears, and judgments that he can see more than what meets the eye, and the freedom that comes along with this seeing.
In “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, a blind man named Robert help Bub, a person unable to understand or place the feelings of others in front of his own , open his eyes and realize how to consider others feelings. In the story, Robert comes to to visit Bub’s wife after his wife passes away. Bub is not looking forward to his encounter with Robert. As the story progresses, Bub is forced to interact with Robert in ways that seem foreign to him. Bub’s difference interactions with Robert builds up to the both of them drawing a cathedral together, which leads to Bub being changed and him placing Roberts points of view ahead of his own. Bub believes the world revolves around himself and lacks the ability to consider others feeling ahead of his own,
The unnamed narrator of Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” poses as an unreliable narrator for his unaccepting nature towards blind people along with his ignorant perception of many realities in his life that Carver presents for the reader to take into question. The narrator holds prejudice against Robert, a blind man whom the narrator’s wife worked with ten years earlier and eventually befriends. Unperceptive to many of the actualities in his own life, the narrator paints an inaccurate picture of Robert that he will soon find to be far from the truth.
The narrator's insensitivity reveals itself early in the story when his wife's blind friend, Robert, comes for a visit after the death of his wife. Almost immediately in the beginning of the story the narrator admits "A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to." [Carver 2368] He even goes so far as to suggest to his wife that he take the man bowling. He hears the story of Robert's dead wife and can not even imagine " what a pitiful life this woman must have led." [Carver 2370] The narrator is superficial, only recognizing the external part of people and not recognizing the value of a person on the inside.
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.
Overall, the cathedral that the narrator draws with Robert represents true sight, the ability to see beyond the surface to the true meaning that lies within. The husband’s insecurities makes him emotionally blind. His inability to see past Robert’s disability ultimately prevents him from seeing the reality of any relationship or person in the story. The husband becomes more sensitive and accepts the moment of being blind has allowed him to become a better man. Finally, the cathedral drawing ironically reveals blindness to be an important factor. As a result, Carver gives interesting lessons to powerfully assess how we can find beauty and free ourselves from prejudgments and see the real world with our minds, not only our eyes.