The Blind Man In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

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In Raymond Carvers “Cathedral” the narrator and Robert, the blind man, have no connections at all in the beginning. The narrator even thinks that he is better than Robert because Robert is blind, the narrator is also jealous of Robert’s relationship with the narrator’s wife. Although we can gather these things from the short story the actual message that I am going to discuss in this paper is the importance of not physical seeing but emotionally and mentally seeing. Raymond Carver’s short story “Cathedral” explains the importance of transcendence, looking beyond what you can physically see and opening yourself up for greatness and opportunity in life. The Narrator acts as though he is better than Robert because Robert is blind. The Narrator makes jokes by saying “what side of the train did you sit on” Robert replies by saying “the right” just because he can’t physically see doesn’t mean that he is below anyone else(Carver 2016). In the beginning of the story the narrator talks about how he isn’t ok with having a Blind” man stay in his house and that he has never really known a blind man. We look at this as jealousy, however it is over looked because the story focuses on how the narrator is …show more content…

Everyone is equal and you don’t have to physically see in order to “see” things. You can live your whole life without actually “seeing” the true meaning of anything. You can also go your whole life thinking that you are better than someone else, but in reality when it’s all said and done and you’ve left this earth only peoples memory of you will be left. Will they say “she/he never really seen the true meaning of life” or will they say “she/he lived their life to fullest and viewed everyone as equals”? So with that being said let this stay with you “With eyes still closed the narrator says ‘the drawing is really something’”. Will you be able to see without physically seeing

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