Raymond Carver’s short story “Cathedral” quite intriguing. The short story is riddled with symbolism or hidden meanings. If the reader were to look at the story without analyzing properly the reader might think this story is about a blind man visiting his friend. With careful analyzing the writer has concluded that this story has three motifs in this small short story. The first motif is the worldly eyes of the husband, the second being a life lesson, and the third being religion.
The book begins with the narrator, which is the Husband, speaking about the Blind man or Roger in a neutral manner, just giving information about Roger. Half way down the paragraph the true feelings of the narrator came to surface, he goes as far to say “A blind …show more content…
Before the husband met Robert he had a disposition of blind people saying the “blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing-eye dogs” (Carver 84). This is significant for the reader to understand that this book is trying to teach a very important life lesson. We as human beings must be thoughtful of other people, not putting a presumption on people because they are different. (That being said there is a right from wrong and we should also as humans protect our self because people are bad.) Later in the narrative the Husband meets Roger the book describes him as “spiffy” “long bearded” “heavy set” “balding” and “in his late forties” (Carver 89). The book also points out several times of his laughter and how loud his voice and laughter is; this proves the Husband wrong. This short story’s final motif is of the underlying side of religion or of a greater power. The first sign of this hidden motif is the sins. The first being suicide or wrath “she went in and swallowed all of the pills and capsules in the medicine chest and washed them down with a bottle of …show more content…
The second being divorce or lust, “she told him about her divorce” (Carver 86) Envy the husband is envy’s of the relationship Robert and his wife have (Carver 86). Fourth, placing other gods before Him or pride in a false hope, “The other half of the coin went into the box with her” (Carver 87), placing coins in the mouth of the dead is an old tradition rooting back to the Roman days. The Romans placed a coin in their dead’s mouth to pay the fairy man (god) that passes them onto the afterlife. Fifth Gluttony, “For a few moments we sat as if stunted. Sweat beaded on our faces” (Carver 90). Greed is the sixth, all of the characters indulge in Alcohol to the point of drunkenness and they indulge in smoking pot, so they are greedy with these worldly desires to please them self and find false joy. The husband is also very lazy or sloth, so the writer is going to add laziness to the list as the seventh. Wrath, lust, pride, envy, gluttony, greed, and sloth; the seven deadly sins. The second sign of this hidden motif of religion is, what I call the conversion factor. The Husband sits on the floor with Roger, closes his eyes and begins to see. This may seem confusing, but most religions have a faith or some sort. The believer must put their faith in something. There is no one in this story with greater faith than Roger. He literally cannot see a thing yet he believes it is there, Roger came not to visit the Wife, but to give the Husband
The book begins with the narrator, which is the Husband, speaking about the Blind man or Roger in a neutral manner, just giving information about Roger. Half way down the paragraph the true feelings of the narrator came to surface, he goes as far to say “A blind …show more content…
Before the husband met Robert he had a disposition of blind people saying the “blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing-eye dogs” (Carver 84). This is significant for the reader to understand that this book is trying to teach a very important life lesson. We as human beings must be thoughtful of other people, not putting a presumption on people because they are different. (That being said there is a right from wrong and we should also as humans protect our self because people are bad.) Later in the narrative the Husband meets Roger the book describes him as “spiffy” “long bearded” “heavy set” “balding” and “in his late forties” (Carver 89). The book also points out several times of his laughter and how loud his voice and laughter is; this proves the Husband wrong. This short story’s final motif is of the underlying side of religion or of a greater power. The first sign of this hidden motif is the sins. The first being suicide or wrath “she went in and swallowed all of the pills and capsules in the medicine chest and washed them down with a bottle of …show more content…
The second being divorce or lust, “she told him about her divorce” (Carver 86) Envy the husband is envy’s of the relationship Robert and his wife have (Carver 86). Fourth, placing other gods before Him or pride in a false hope, “The other half of the coin went into the box with her” (Carver 87), placing coins in the mouth of the dead is an old tradition rooting back to the Roman days. The Romans placed a coin in their dead’s mouth to pay the fairy man (god) that passes them onto the afterlife. Fifth Gluttony, “For a few moments we sat as if stunted. Sweat beaded on our faces” (Carver 90). Greed is the sixth, all of the characters indulge in Alcohol to the point of drunkenness and they indulge in smoking pot, so they are greedy with these worldly desires to please them self and find false joy. The husband is also very lazy or sloth, so the writer is going to add laziness to the list as the seventh. Wrath, lust, pride, envy, gluttony, greed, and sloth; the seven deadly sins. The second sign of this hidden motif of religion is, what I call the conversion factor. The Husband sits on the floor with Roger, closes his eyes and begins to see. This may seem confusing, but most religions have a faith or some sort. The believer must put their faith in something. There is no one in this story with greater faith than Roger. He literally cannot see a thing yet he believes it is there, Roger came not to visit the Wife, but to give the Husband