Raymond Carver Cathedral

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Recommended: Literary Analysis of Cathedral by Raymond Carver

Cathedral by Raymond Carver features a narrator who seems like a reasonably ordinary man who finds himself in a rather peculiar situation. The narrator’s one quirk is that he does not have a natural chemistry dealing with blind people. He’s never been exposed to that kind of person and the very idea of associating with a disabled man such as Robert seems alien. Right away the narrator is cast into an odd situation as his wife says she is planning to have Robert over. Robert is a blind man which the narrator feels he will not be able to relate to; he has a long and close relationship with his wife, however he and Robert have never personally exchanged a word to one another. After Robert arrives at his home the narrator is enveloped in an extremely …show more content…

It begins muted and slow but then the blind man expresses a genuine interest in getting to know the narrator specifically. They begin talking a little more starting to break the ice over some of the television shows they were watching. When the documentary about cathedrals comes on the narrator has a major character development as he struggles to describe the beauty and wonder of these buildings in a way a blind man could understand. Naturally, he finds this task to be difficult and the blind man suggests they draw a grand cathedral out on a piece of paper. The narrator was certainly tired and initially would have declined but there has been some sincere change in him over the story. As they work on the drawing the two of them make a connection, the blind man asks the narrator to close his eyes and he does so, this is a beautiful moment to conclude the story as we get to see the narrator transition from his standoffish attitude towards this blind stranger to having a genuine connection where they relate to one another on a personal level. Ultimately an astounding character

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