The narrator in Cathedral is seen to be biased in many aspects as a result of the way he views and perceives the world around him. In the very first few pages of the book, we see the narrator’s blurred vision on the way he sees his life, that of his wife and that of the entire world in general. The approach the narrator has towards life seems unhappy and insecure. In the wake of the events that happened to his wife in the past, the narrator shows some sense of insecurity. The feeling of insecurity is seen when referring to the ex-husband of his wife where he claims, “Why should he have a name?”
The narrator is also seen as trying to make himself look more important than the rest of the people. For example, he addresses the wife’s former husband as the officer, and also he refuses to use the name of his wife in most parts of the story.
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He is also seen to have a constant negative attitude towards his wife and also perceive other people through prejudices, bias, and jealousies. The husband is seen to describe the life of Robert’s wife as being pathetic as a result of the jealous he develops on the relationship of the two.
The husband is known to be extremely unreliable as a result of a change in viewpoints concerning his perceptions. At the moment when he is drawing the cathedral with Roberts, he changes his perception and expands his perspective to come to a new point of belief and revelation. He gains a realization that he ought to do away with insecurity and mental acts of jealousy. The husband expands and opens up for new possibilities while shunning the previous thoughts entirely. All this makes him extremely unreliable and very dynamic as far as various standpoints are
In Raymond Carver’s story, “Cathedral,” the story tells of how a close outside relationship can threaten a marriage by provoking insecurities, aggravating communication barriers, and creating feelings of invasion of privacy. The husband in the story is given the gift of seeing the cathedral through a blind man’s eyes. Although the title suggests that the story is about a cathedral, it is really about two men who come together and share a vision and realize it is he who is blind. As the story begins, the character of the husband has a negative personality. He lacks compassion, is narrow-minded, and is jealous of his wife’s friendship with a blind man named Robert.
Although many critics have written numerous accounts of Richard Carver’s "Cathedral" as being about revelation and overcoming prejudice, they have overlooked a very significant aspect: the unfolding of marital drama. The story tells of how a close outside friendship can threaten marriage by provoking insecurities, creating feelings of invasion of privacy, and aggravating communication barriers.
The short story, “Cathedral,” by Raymond Carver, is about a blind man who changes the way the narrator views life by giving him some insight on how he sees things. The characters in this short story are constantly developing into better versions of themselves by sharing their insights with one another.
Hence, upon analyzing the story, one can conclude the certain themes that parallel through the pages. Firstly, a theme of unity and trust is present at the end of the play. This is supported by the image of the cathedral, which is a place of unity. Most importantly, the notion of equality among people is the main theme within this story. The narrator starts as a biased, idiot, who dislikes all people that are not like himself. He even at times is rude to his wife. Ironically, it takes a blind man to change the man that can literally see, to rule out the prejudices and to teach him that all men are created equal.
...l of open-mindedness. “Cathedral” concerns the change in one man’s understanding of himself and the world. From the start of the story the narrator is restricted in his understanding to accept the blind man just as his wife has. He cannot fully wrap around the idea of what makes Robert so special. Until, that is, that the narrator starts drawing the cathedral which starts off as a house almost, and expands into something grander. This short story allows us to realize that the world is greater and further detailed than what we consider it in our confined minds. And that in fact we should never assume that there is nothing more to what the eye can see. It simply states that we shouldn’t form an opinion on someone or something based only on what you see on the exterior, because usually after taking the time to explore, the person or thing will not be what you expected.
Want? -"(P721). By treating everyone generically and denying their importance, the narrator is trying to make himself seem more important in the lives of others. He simply calls his wife's first husband "the officer"(P720) or "the man"(P720). His refusal to even use his wife's name while narrating as well as constantly referring to Robert as the "the blind man"(P720) shows that he has decided to block out the importance of the people around him. He is even less considerate of Roberts wife, whom he refers to as "Beulah, Beulah"(P721). The narrator chooses not to see everyone around him as individuals, but as a whole group. A group he is scared to look at. The narrator's feelings toward Robert are...
Raymond Carver utilizes his character of the husband, who is also the narrator, in his short story "Cathedral." From the beginning of the story the narrator has a negative personality. He lacks compassion, has a narrow mind, is detached emotionally from others, and is jealous of his wife's friendship with a blind man named Robert. He never connects with anyone emotionally until the end of this story.
He starts by basing his ideas on things he’s seen from inaccurate sources. For example, he confesses that his “idea of blindness came from the movies… [where] the blind moved slowly and never laughed” (1076). Having never met a blind person, the narrator automatically suspects that Robert is someone who is handicapped because he is blind. This led him to believe that people who cannot visibly see are unable to find their way unless they’re “led by seeing eye dogs” (1076). He blindingly makes these presumptions solely from a stereotypical viewpoint which clouds his judgement and prevents him from seeing the blind man for his true
In Raymond Carver’s story “Cathedral” the narrator learns what it means to “see” through someone who cannot. To see is to be able to view the things around us while putting aside preconceived notions or fear about these objects or people. In order for this to occur once must overcome what they feel is out of the ordinary and learn to accept things as they are. At first the narrator is doesn’t accept the man and uncomfortable around Robert. The narrator soon comes to understand this when he puts aside his fears, and judgments that he can see more than what meets the eye, and the freedom that comes along with this seeing.
The blind man asks the husband to describe to him the image of a cathedral. The husband was unable to successfully compose an accurate description, because he didn’t understand the meaning and the symbolism of the building. He is not a man of religion, and he was watching the show only because he had nothing else to do. When asked to describe a cathedral he says, "Sometimes the cathedrals have devils and such carved into the front. Sometimes lords and ladies. Don't ask me why this is, I said" (558-561). He continues his description of why people built Cathedrals as “…In those olden days, when they built cathedrals, men wanted to be close to God. In those olden days, God was an important part of everyone's life. You could tell this from their cathedral-building.” (572-576). Robert asked the narrator if he belonged to any religion and he replied by saying “"I guess I don't believe in it. In anything. Sometimes It's hard. (586-587).” Compelled to think about the purpose of cathedrals, the narrator realizes that, they symbolize the struggles of the people which made them build those structures to get closer to God. What would make people do such a thing? Faith in religion sometimes give direction and meaning to peoples’
The narrator is uneasy with the thought of Robert staying in his house and believes that he is superior to the blind man. Even before an introduction is satisfied between the narrator and Robert, the narrator is a bit disturbed to have Robert staying in his house. Within the first paragraph of the story, the narrator’s agitation towards Robert is made apparent. “I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me” (Carver 33). The narrator assumes from Robert’s blindness that he is going to just be a nuisance to have to host because
As the story begins, the narrator's compliance with her role as a submissive woman is easily seen. She states, "John laughs at me, but one expects that in marriage" (Gilman 577). These words clearly illustrate the male's position of power in a marriage t...
Julia Rodas’s academic study on blindness expressed a various amount of common sayings,for me most i can relate to the narrator's lack of emotion. I can relate it to his lack of soul and as Rodas quotes for her study “eye are the window to the soul.”(Rodas 9) With that being said I feel a soul is a form of lifetimes of knowledge and moral sense. Implying the narrator's eyes are dark, or blind with his sense of being soulless . It’s very possible the narrator is suggested to be a young soul instead of an older soul compared to Robert who seemed to be open to knowledge and already has a sense of understanding. The narrator explains his habit, “every night I smoke dope and stay up as long as I could before sleep.” (Carver 362) It is the narrator's choice to live a mindless, blind life of getting stoned and watching television. He is a burn out who mentions “my ideas of blindness came from the movies” (353) He has no real idea of the world around him and he further proves he is uneducated and assumptious with thinking “he didn’t use a cane or wear dark glasses.”(358) He must not get out much because it’s not that uncommon for someone in public to be visually handicapped and not wear the comical dark glasses and walk around tapping a cane with a seeing eye dog. The narrator's reason for why the blind didn't smoke cigarettes was “they couldn't see the smoke they exhale”(358). Which are both more than likely something the narrator saw in one of his movies or television specials while he was mindlessly stoned not interacting with his wife, or anyone for that matter. It could be the alcohol or marijuana interfering with the narrator's sense
From the beginning of his tale, the husband is quite bland on the subject of love. This is present when he tells the part about his wife's first husband, even going as far as to say the man doesn't deserve to be named because "he was the childhood sweetheart, and what more does he want" (348). When he tells of Beulah, Robert's wife, and her tragic death, he shows no compassion in mocking her for marrying a blind man. He even asks if the woman was a "Negro" because of her name. His materialistic views shine through when he feels actually pity for her because she could "never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one" (349). His lack of compassion for the tale of the blind man's marriage tells the reader that maybe the husband himself doesn't believe in love. When he refers to his wife's first husband as "this man who'd first enjoyed her favors" and "shrugs" when he thinks his wife is disappointed in his actions, it informs the reader he may look at relationships, even his own, as more of a business deal than a devotion of love (348, 350). His wry humor is major indication of his sarcastic character. He even makes a crack to his wife about the blind man befo...
With this in mind, “Cathedral” is a story about a blind man who visits a married couple for the first time in ten years. Carver introduces the blind man’s name as Robert. He has formed a great relationship with the husband’s wife by passionately communicating with her through mailing letters and tapes. Unfortunately, these actions force the husband to become extremely paranoid of Robert coming to visit his wife. These events can infer that their marriage is unstable and the wife is potentially attempting to seek attention or a stronger e...