"Cathedral" by Raymond Carver

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“Cathedral” by Raymond Carver is a story narrorated by a man whose wife invites an old friend (Robert) over for a visit after recently losing his wife of eight years. This old friend is blind, which greatly troubles the nameless man. This is because he already has a preconceived idea of what blind people are like without ever having met one. As the story progresses and soon ends, this unnamed man learns of his misconceptions and the true meaning of life after spending time with his blind house guest. This is accomplished as Carver uses irony to accentuate the difference between physically looking versus internally seeing. Symbolism is also used as literary device to point out that empathy and viewpoint is the only way to truly understand profound emotion.
The central aspect of Carver’s story is the significant irony between that of the nameless narrator and the blind man. From the start, the narrator appears to have to it all – shelter, food, a loving wife, and the overlooked gift of vision. With all of this though, he lacks internal depth. He is a simple, uneducated, egotistical man who unknowingly has limitations in sight. “I’ve never met, or personally known, anyone who was blind” (Carver, ). Of course he is physically able see the world around him, but he doesn’t realize how little of the world he truly perceives as his prejudice tendencies cloud his outlook on life and the people in it. The world through his eyes is very black and white with no shades of gray. This is ironic as one would think this man’s life is (or should be) full of meaning and significance compared to that of the blind who, in contrast, is open to ideas and experiences even while lacking the physical ability to see. Through this irony, Carver attempts...

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... I was inside anything . . . ‘It was really something’” (Carver, ).
Carver never elaborates on what he saw, but instead, leaves it up to the reader. One can conclude that he finally realized the true meaning of life and let go of all of his prejudice tendencies; that his eyes were metaphorically opened for the first time. Others might go as far as to say that the cathedral symbolized spiritually and that the narrator finally found something to believe in; that he found God and was spiritually renewed. Lastly, people can say that he just found acceptance for Robert as the drawing of the cathedral together can represent the “collective teamwork” required to build an actual cathedral in real life (Carver, ). Either way it’s taken, the cathedral has opened a door for him within his own life that allows him to see past the limitations he has set for himself.

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