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Literary elements in raymond carvers cathedral
Cathedral symbolism raymond carver
Cathedral symbolism raymond carver
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Using blindness as the primary metaphor in his short story, “Cathedral,” Raymond Carver explores themes of delusion, ignorance, and isolation. Through the extended metaphor of blindness, he suggests in his short story that the mind is the most important factor in the way we perceive things, and that the judgments we form are often founded on what our minds fabricate instead of on what is really there. This will be shown through the contrast between the narrator and the blind man, Robert.
From the get-go of the story, Carver sets up the narrator’s character and attitude, which continues to persist throughout the entire narrative. The narrator—who never has a name—kindles flames of discontentment and expresses his unwillingness to meet Robert, an old friend of his wife’s, because Robert is blind. The narrator has never met a blind person before in his life, and as such, his mind is full of prejudiced notions regarding the blind community. He believes that Robert “moved slowly, used a cane, wore dark glasses, used a seeing-eye dog, and never laughed” (Carver 123) because that is the entrenched bigotry he holds so deeply for the blind people. His assumptions—no matter how long-held or widespread—are absurd and have no logical bearing since his notion of blind people originates “from the [often hyperbolized world of] movies” (Carver 123) rather than his personal experience. Once Robert comes to the couple’s house, those judgments and stereotypes are all found to be false because Robert is anything but how the narrator imagined him to be. Yet, his prejudice resurfaces more intensely when he asks his wife if Robert’s deceased wife was “a Negro” (Carver 125) only because her name was Beulah. The narrator’s lack of self-awareness disables...
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...ns we form handicap us from learning new things and making friends. Robert’s blindness is repeatedly displayed throughout the story again and again, but upon meeting Robert we get to learn that despite his disability, he is a very open-minded man. In contrast, the narrator, despite being blessed with two functioning eyes, is ironically close-minded. Additionally, the narrator’s narrow-mindedness seems to be more problematic than Robert’s disability to see, because it doesn’t allow him to socialize with people and live a satisfactory life. However, the narrator finds out through drawing a cathedral in the end that not having judgments and prejudices against others can be liberating. Through the narrator, Carver demonstrates us that our minds can stop us from learning new things, and the ability to open our minds to things is a personal choice which needs practice.
In the short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, the narrator, Bub, is as metaphorically blind as his guest, Robert, is literally blind. Bub has many unwarranted misconceptions about life, blind people in particular. He also has many insecurities that prevent him from getting too close to people. Through his interaction with Robert, Bub is able to open his mind and let go of his self-doubt for a moment and see the world in a different light.
Raymond Carver’s short story “Cathedral” opens with a narrator whose wife has invited a blind friend to spend the night. The narrator depersonalizes the man right off the bat and repeatedly throughout the story by referring to him, not by name, but as “the blind man” (Carver 513). He admits that hi...
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.
Blindness in Raymond Carver's Cathedral Blindness creates a world of obscurity only to be overcome with guidance from someone willing to become intimate with the blind. Equally true, the perceptions of blindness can only be overcome when the blind allow intimacy with the sighted. Raymond Carver, with his short story Cathedral, illustrates this point through the eyes of a man who will be spending an evening with a blind man, Robert, for the first time. Not only does this man not know Robert, but his being blind, "bothered" (Carver 98) him.
The point of view from the narrators perspective, highlights how self-absorbed and narrow-minded he is. “They’d married, lived and worked together, slept together—had sex, sure—and then the blind man had to bury her. All this without his having ever seen what the goddamned woman looked like. It was beyond my understanding” (Carver...
Throughout the majority of the story Carver uses a variety of devices to portray the narrator negatively. One reason is that he lacks compassion. At the beginning of the story he says, "I wasn?t enthusiastic about his [the blind man?s] visit. He [the blind man] was no one I knew. And his [the blind man] being blind bothered me."
I can truly say after reading Cathedral by Raymond Carver the point of view the husband had about the blind in the beginning of the passage made me feel as if I was in his shoes. Like him my view of the blind has change quite tremendously. If it was not for his wife who invited an old friend of hers Robert, who is blind, to their home and actually having the opportunity to see what a real blind man was like, her husband would have never changed his perspective of the blind. With the opportunity of his wife and Robert the husband has undergone a change in his view of blind people in movies as disturbing and bothersome, to just viewing the blind as human beings and realizing their view of the world “is really something”.
...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.
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'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.
At first glance, one might assume Raymond Carver’s "Cathedral" illustrates the awakening of an insensitive and insulated husband to the world of a blind man. However, this literal awakening does not account for the fact that the husband awakens also to a world of religious insight, of which he has also been blind. The title and story structure are the first indicators of the importance of the religious thesis. It is also revealed when one examines the language and actions of the characters in the story. Finally, Carver’s previous and subsequent writings give an overall background for the argument that "Cathedral" has a significant religious import.
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.
In the story "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver, it tells of how a blind man is open to new experiences and how he views the world compared to the husband (narrator) who is blinded by the material things of life. The husband is given the gift of sight but the true gift comes from seeing the cathedral. At the beginning of the story, the husband’s outlook on others is filled with stereotypes, discrimination, insecurities and prejudice. After interacting with Robert, his wife's friend, his outlook begins to change significantly.
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...