Morally blind
There are about three thousand cathedrals, and about 39 million blind people, around the world. That is about 39 million people that don’t get to see the beautiful walls and insides of cathedrals. In In Raymond Carver’s short story, “Cathedral,” an unnamed narrator suddenly faces his own preconceptions, jealousy and prejudices about blind people that in return makes him emotionally and morally blind himself. Without actually being blind, the narrator of the story judges and puts Robert, who is blind, into a stereotypical category of blindness, thus making him even more blind than Robert.
The unnamed narrator’s preconceptions about how blind people are portrayed in society, is shaped by his views of them over the television and …show more content…
During dinner, Robert, right away, “located his foods,”(90) and he knows where everything is. The narrator, “watched in admiration as he used his knife and fork on the meat”(90). Then he explains, in detail, on exactly how he ate, almost as if Robert wasn’t blind. The narrator seems to believe that everything he reads about blind people is true. Another point about Robert is he can, in a sense, see color. When Robert arrives he tells the narrator and his wife that, “I have winter in my beard now”(89). The fact that he didn’t say white, and that he depicts color with a season, is very astonishing. Furthermore, when they are all watching, or listening, to the TV, Robert blurts out, “this is a color TV, don’t ask me how, but I can tell”(91). Since Robert is blind, he has had to rely in his senses so much, that now he can tell between a black and white TV, and a colored one. Moreover, when he sees Robert smoking a cigarette he says, “ I remembered having read somewhere that the blind didn’t smoke because, they couldn’t see the smoke they exhaled”(90). Since the narrator has no actual experience with blind people, his prejudices about Robert is what is actually “blinding” him from becoming friends with Robert. What the narrator doesn't realize is that he is the one who is blind. His lack of …show more content…
On her last day, “the blind man asked if he could touch her face”(85), in hearing this, the narrator instantly becomes very jealous. Then the wife tells him that Robert, “touched his fingers to every part of her face, her nose- even her neck!”(85). Later, she writes a poem about her experience, and the narrator, of course, “didn’t think much of the poem”(85), because he is burdened by the fact that he wasn’t the first one to have, “enjoyed her favors”(85). Since robert is blind, he can never see what the wife looks like, and by using his other senses like, touching, he can get a sense of what she looks like. The narrator sees it as, Robert enjoying her face before he gets to. These are just some of the many ways the narrator shows himself as a jealous insensible man who only cares about himself and his wife. But that all changes. Towards the end of the story, the narrator's wife leaves Robert and him to go upstairs. This forces the two men to get to know each other a little better. When they are both watching a program about cathedrals Robert asks the narrator to, “describe one to me?”(95). The narrator does his best at describing a cathedral, but Robert still wants to know what it looks like. So he says, “we’ll draw one together”(97). So the narrator gets pens and heavy paper and
There are about three thousand cathedrals, and about 39 million blind people, around the world. That is about 39 million people that don’t get to see the beautiful walls and insides of cathedrals. In In Raymond Carver’s short story, “Cathedral,” an unnamed narrator suddenly faces his own preconceptions, jealousy and prejudices about blind people that in return makes him emotionally and morally blind himself. Without actually being blind, the narrator of the story judges and puts Robert, who is blind, into a stereotypical category of blindness, thus making him even more blind than Robert.
The unnamed narrator’s preconceptions about how blind people are portrayed in society, is shaped by his views of them over the television and …show more content…
During dinner, Robert, right away, “located his foods,”(90) and he knows where everything is. The narrator, “watched in admiration as he used his knife and fork on the meat”(90). Then he explains, in detail, on exactly how he ate, almost as if Robert wasn’t blind. The narrator seems to believe that everything he reads about blind people is true. Another point about Robert is he can, in a sense, see color. When Robert arrives he tells the narrator and his wife that, “I have winter in my beard now”(89). The fact that he didn’t say white, and that he depicts color with a season, is very astonishing. Furthermore, when they are all watching, or listening, to the TV, Robert blurts out, “this is a color TV, don’t ask me how, but I can tell”(91). Since Robert is blind, he has had to rely in his senses so much, that now he can tell between a black and white TV, and a colored one. Moreover, when he sees Robert smoking a cigarette he says, “ I remembered having read somewhere that the blind didn’t smoke because, they couldn’t see the smoke they exhaled”(90). Since the narrator has no actual experience with blind people, his prejudices about Robert is what is actually “blinding” him from becoming friends with Robert. What the narrator doesn't realize is that he is the one who is blind. His lack of …show more content…
On her last day, “the blind man asked if he could touch her face”(85), in hearing this, the narrator instantly becomes very jealous. Then the wife tells him that Robert, “touched his fingers to every part of her face, her nose- even her neck!”(85). Later, she writes a poem about her experience, and the narrator, of course, “didn’t think much of the poem”(85), because he is burdened by the fact that he wasn’t the first one to have, “enjoyed her favors”(85). Since robert is blind, he can never see what the wife looks like, and by using his other senses like, touching, he can get a sense of what she looks like. The narrator sees it as, Robert enjoying her face before he gets to. These are just some of the many ways the narrator shows himself as a jealous insensible man who only cares about himself and his wife. But that all changes. Towards the end of the story, the narrator's wife leaves Robert and him to go upstairs. This forces the two men to get to know each other a little better. When they are both watching a program about cathedrals Robert asks the narrator to, “describe one to me?”(95). The narrator does his best at describing a cathedral, but Robert still wants to know what it looks like. So he says, “we’ll draw one together”(97). So the narrator gets pens and heavy paper and