Narrator's Blindness: Cathedral By Raymond Carver

Narrator’s Blindness
Do you think vision is everything in life? Many people find themselves superior to others who lack the ability to see this wonderful world. As portrayed in the short fiction story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, a person needs more than sight to become complete in life. Carver tells story from the narrator’s view where the narrator views himself perfectly fine with no physical disabilities. However, when he interacted with a blind man, who comes in his life as a teacher, he realize about his weakness to look deeper. This story takes place one night in New York, where a blind friend of the narrator’s wife, Robert came to visit. Upon staying in the narrator’s house, Robert opens his eyes and teaches him a good life lesson.

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. Even though the narrator lives a married life, he fails to understand his wife’s feelings that are required in strong relationships. The way narrator describes the situations that happened in his wife’s life, we can tell how narrator lacks feelings. When he describes his wife’s difficult situation when she was in hospital, he said, “But instead of dying, she got sick. She threw up” (Carver 261). This comment by the narrator shows us that he has no feeling towards his wife. Also, the narrator tell us how inspiring the poems was that his wife wrote about her important experience in life. Narrator said, “I admit it’s not the first thing I reach for when I picked up something to read” (261).

Even though Robert lacks the ability to see the physical world, he has ability to engage with others with his benevolent nature. Robert knows the importance of love and how to treat his beloved. When his wife was in hospital, he “sits beside the bed and holds on her hand” (262). He lived with her for eight inseparable eight and had a strong bond with her. He loved his beloved that much that he don’t even want her to leave him. Robert also good relationship with people that interact in his life. The lack of vision never stop him to continue forward in his life. Narrator mention that “Robert had done little of everything, it seemed, a regular blind jack –of –all –trades” (264). Robert had done much with his life and gain as much as possible from every moment of life. Indeed, Robert’s willingness to learn everything in detail apart him from narrator. He wants to learn something from every event encountered in his life. Even when narrator ask Robert what he wants to watch on television, he said “whatever you want to watch is okay. I’m always learning. Learning never ends”