“If love is blind, then maybe a blind person that loves has a greater understanding of it” (Jami). Blindness is the lack of sight which can be a curse or even a blessing. It is psychological intensity to the loss or gain, misery or happiness, creation or destruction, peace or war, divine or human. The quote above depicts the ability to see the fault in the person you love and being able to ‘see’ beyond what others can see. People can be physically blind, without sight or symbolically blind, not being able to connect or understand life. In Raymond Carver’s short story, Cathedral; he portrays a deeper level of engagement between looking and seeing. The narrator shows that he is capable of looking, putting no effort into seeing what is beyond the surface. Meanwhile Robert is blind, he is able to “see” on a deeper level and tries to
He is seen to be closed minded and judgmental, but as he is able to explain the cathedral to Robert, he felt free. When he drew the cathedral with his eyes closed, he begins to find himself being pulled in, adding final details. When Robert asks him to open his eyes, the narrator says, “But I had my eyes closed. I thought I’d keep them that way for a little longer. I thought it was something I ought to do”(Carver). He did not want to open his eyes, he reached an epiphany. The cathedral is a place for the religious to worship and to find solace and the narrator’s drawing of the cathedral opened the door for him to see beyond what is immediately visible.After realizing he has been living in a hole his whole life, he says, “I did not feel like I was inside of anything”(Carver). His light finally opened, he was brought out of a place he has been stuck in for a while. He is starting to exist in a world he was not living in. We can tell that he is an introvert and does not have many friends other than his wife but now he actually has deeper empathy with Robert and even his
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.
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.
Upon reading Raymond Carver's short story of the Cathedral one will notice the literary devices used in the short story. When analyzing the story completely, one then understands the themes, motifs, metaphors, and the overall point of the piece. This leaves the reader with an appreciation of the story and a feeling of complete satisfaction.
In the story "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver, the main character, goes through a major personal transformation. At the beginning of the story, his opinions of others are filled with stereotypes, discrimination and prejudice. Through interaction with his wife's blind friend Robert, his attitude and outlook on life changes. Although at first he seemed afraid to associate with a blind man, Robert's outgoing personality left him with virtually no choice. During Robert's visit, he proved to be a normal man, and showed the speaker that by closing his eyes, he could open his mind.
we are afraid of different thing in our lives, And one of them is is a fear of emptiness,so that makes people don’t feel the reality. And exactly like Bub ,Bub by being able to visualize he did not have the advantage to feel the true reality of anything in his life including himself.car is a good example,some people just see how a car look likes but other see what is beneath that massive piece of metal, and they are who enjoy the most out of a car because they truly understand how it works . so lets move on from cars and talk about Bub, from the begging Bub did not put hime self in Robert’s shoes to understand being blind is bad or good, he instantly thought about perspective of being blind in the movies ,as he said “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” (Carver 28) so thats a strong example of just visualizing rather than trying to understand the concept of being blind in grater depth . so when people are using this method to understand others around them they will start to fill the same thing about themselves too.which makes them to have a low self-esteem “My wife finally took her eyes off the blind man and looked at me. I had the feeling she didn't like what she saw. I shrugged” (Carver 31) someone say something like this about theme selves because they don’t know what they are capable of.when bub said “she did’t like what she saw.” (31) it was more like i did not like what i see in myself, because he thinks Robert is better than him and he cant be like Robert.this makes people weaker and weaker every day when they think this way about them selves.and then they want to forget about it beca...
...ns up to new possibilities: "Never thought anything like this could happen in your lifetime, did you bub? Well, it's a strange life, we all know that"(P729). This quote shows the narrators limited view on life. By drawing the cathedral with Robert, the narrator's views are expanded and he experiences a revelation. The narrator realizes that he must let go of his insecurity and mental acts of jealousy.
The narrator explains how it is hard for him to describe more of them, because he isn’t religious, so how can someone describe something with embellishment if you don’t believe in it? Robert then asked the narrator if he would like to draw one together. The narrator agrees, when he brings the paper bag to draw on, he describes how Robert is touching the paper, the edges, and the corners. When they both begin to draw, Robert places his hand over the narrator’s and follows, the narrator is in disbelief on what is happening because he never thought anything like this was ever going to happen to him. Robert comes off as a very encouraging man who unconsciously is helping Robert believe in himself by trying something that he’s never been used to doing. The positivity, patience, and great words Robert used towards the narrators’ effort in drawing the cathedral made him want to keep going and he didn’t know exactly why, all he knew was that he couldn’t stop. After a while the narrator closed his eyes and continued to draw, then he opened his eyes to tell Robert how the drawing came out. Surprisingly, the narrator kept his eyes closed and he mentions that although he knew he was home he felt like he was in anything. While remaining with his eyes closed and answering Robert on how the drawing looked like, he then said “It’s really something.” (Carver, 1983). I
Raymond Carver utilizes his character of the husband, who is also the narrator, in his short story "Cathedral." From the beginning of the story the narrator has a negative personality. He lacks compassion, has a narrow mind, is detached emotionally from others, and is jealous of his wife's friendship with a blind man named Robert. He never connects with anyone emotionally until the end of this story.
When I read “Cathedral” a short story by Raymond Carver, it leaves me with many questions as well as lessons. This story mainly encounters behaviors and discussions between the three main characters. The three main characters of the story are the unnamed narrator, his wife and the Robert. The unnamed narrator is kind of the main character who describes his experience with Robert. He is jealous of his wife’s past and doesn’t want Robert to visit them. Robert is a blind man who is an old friend of narrator’s wife. Narrator’s wife is an unnamed woman who invited Robert to her home after a long period of time. The short story mostly revolves around these three characters and their discussions.
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.
...h it emotionally detached without the pleasure of living. In the end, when the narrator has his eyes closed drawing the cathedral, he is the most open he has even been to the world. The narrator’s limited point of view in the story was crucial in showing the reader that what will hold you back the most in life are your biases and judgments. If the story was told in Robert’s point of view, it would have been a joyful story about visiting a long time friend, even with the tragedy of his wife’s death. We would have never known of the prejudices that were held inside the husband, and no true theme would have come from the story. The limited point of view was used in a way that expanded upon the theme even more, and made for a stronger story structure.
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.
Constantly throughout the short story, Robert defies the narrator’s original portrayal of what he believes is a stereotypical blind man. “He also had a full beard. But he didn’t use a cane and he didn’t wear dark glasses. I’d always thought dark glasses were a must for the blind” (Carver 36). Robert also starts to change the narrator’s perception of blind people not only physically but emotionally. In an act of thoughtful accommodation, the narrator begins to describe to Robert the cathedrals on the television when the speaker of the program halts the commentary. Robert starts to slightly and gradually change the perspective that the narrator sees blind people from until the conclusion of the story when Robert shines a light on the
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.
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.