In everyday life, prejudice is an ongoing dispute faced by people for many different reasons; these reasons include religion, race, ethnicity, physical and mental disabilities, and almost any kind of diversity in general. In the short story titled “Cathedral”, written by author Raymond Carver, Carver illustrates character growth of a protagonist through the our unnamed narrator – referred to as “Bub” by Robert – when he undergoes a transformative experience realizing he should not discriminate or judge Robert or other individuals based on their appearance or handicaps. At first, “Bub” is apprehensive to the idea of Robert staying in his home because he is blind, through the night there is not much of an attempt on the narrators part to get
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From the introduction of the story, the reader is already aware that the narrator carries prejudice; “I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit . . . And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies . . . A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to.” (Carver 131), even though Bub does not know much about the blind community or Robert at all, he is ill contempt at even the thought of this man – who is an old friend of his wife – coming into his home only because Robert is …show more content…
After the preliminary awkwardness of being alone with this man who he does not know, Bub has a moment of compassion when he tries to describe what scenery is occurring on the television to Robert. Despite his brief attempt at good will, he is dumbfounded when he realizes he cannot describe a cathedral to Robert; even though Bub can see the physical appearance of the Roman-Catholic monument, he cannot see its deeper significance and is thus unable to describe it to Robert. Robert requests Bub to draw the cathedral with his eyes closed while Roberts’ hands ride on his own, during this event between the two men, Robert experiences his epiphany in which he can see even more than he could with his eyes open. Even after he is done drawing Bub decides to keep his eyes closed, “My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything.” (Carver 138); in this moment, our narrator is able to look inward and outward of himself, allowing him to truly see for the first time and let go of his prior judgements over Robert and the blind
From the introduction of the story, the reader is already aware that the narrator carries prejudice; “I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit . . . And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies . . . A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to.” (Carver 131), even though Bub does not know much about the blind community or Robert at all, he is ill contempt at even the thought of this man – who is an old friend of his wife – coming into his home only because Robert is …show more content…
After the preliminary awkwardness of being alone with this man who he does not know, Bub has a moment of compassion when he tries to describe what scenery is occurring on the television to Robert. Despite his brief attempt at good will, he is dumbfounded when he realizes he cannot describe a cathedral to Robert; even though Bub can see the physical appearance of the Roman-Catholic monument, he cannot see its deeper significance and is thus unable to describe it to Robert. Robert requests Bub to draw the cathedral with his eyes closed while Roberts’ hands ride on his own, during this event between the two men, Robert experiences his epiphany in which he can see even more than he could with his eyes open. Even after he is done drawing Bub decides to keep his eyes closed, “My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything.” (Carver 138); in this moment, our narrator is able to look inward and outward of himself, allowing him to truly see for the first time and let go of his prior judgements over Robert and the blind