Raymond Carver Cathedral Essay

Cathedral” is a story by Raymond Carver, in which he explains the difference between “looking” and truly seeing. Truly “seeing” means understanding someone on a deeper level. It requires listening and truly hearing a person. A person can be blind, but can see right through others and their inner self. In the story, a blind man, who is an old friend of the narrator’s wife, visits the young couple. The narrator is skeptical towards the blind man at first. However, at the end, his attitude changes towards the blind man. Although blindness prevented him from physically seeing, nothing prevented him from “seeing” right through people and understanding them on a deeper level. The blind man asks the narrator to draw him a cathedral, which he does.

He feels stronger and superior to him because he can see, unlike the blind man. He seems uncomfortable and annoyed by the blinds man relationship with his wife, which began years ago when the blind man hired her to work for him. Since blindness prevented him from doing many things, he hired her to help him with his daily tasks. Later, she was forced to move, but they kept in touch ever since, even when they were miles apart. He served as an important figure in her life. For years, she sent letters to him and he wrote back. She welcomed him home and treated him with respect. Knowing how important the blind man is to his wife, the narrator shows absolutely no respect towards him. Therefore, he shows no respect towards his wife either. He says “Maybe I could take him bowling (105).” Not only is the narrator rude and disrespectful, but he also shows signs of jealousy, which kind of explains his outrages behavior. He does not understand his wife’s relationship with the blind man. Since he is blind, the narrator believes that the man cannot live a normal and fulfilled

When the narrator is left all alone with the blind man, he bonds with the character. They watch a program on television about Cathedrals, in which a man in a black suit explains many different facts about them. He talks about the different styles and describes the beauty of the architecture. As they are watching television, the narrator realizes that the blind man has never seen a cathedral before. To give him an idea of how it looks, the narrator draws the building for him. “Close your eyes now (113).” the blind man says to him. The narrator describes it as a crazy experience. He explains, “His fingers rode my fingers as my hand went over the paper. It was like nothing else in my life up to now (113).” He continues “I drew flying buttresses. I hung great doors. I couldn't stop (113).” It was an unusually experience for the narrator, one that he hasn’t experienced before, he was in shock because the blind man made him break down and have feelings that he had never realized he had. While drawing the cathedral, the narrator forgets about everything. He frees himself from the emotional baggage on his chest. For a moment, the narrator experiences a powerful moment of insight and