Raymond Carver 's short story, "Cathedral", the narrator goes through a major personal transformation. At the beginning of the story, the narrator who lacks insight and awareness things around him. The struggles and failures he faces limit his social life which leads him to isolated from society. His wife 's blind friend Robert, pulls him out of his comfort zone which allows his attitude and outlook on life start to changes. The narrator in Raymond Carver 's "Cathedral" develops from being a blind to anyone else but himself and his own perspective to able to open his eyes to see life through difference perspective because of the help of blind man.…
Ignorance is the worst form of blindness. In the short story, “Cathedral,” Raymond Carver creates a dynamic character who is judgmental and lacks insight, but ironically, a blind man soon helps him see. This character, never actually given a name, is also the narrator. Carver’s decision to withhold his name is intriguing since he gives the blind man a name, Robert. The narrator in “Cathedral” himself produces an antisocial, prejudiced personality for others to interact with, but shows the greatest amount of change throughout the story.…
There were several themes that were found in the story. The theme was the third element that was important to this particular story, because such as any other story, there were several common and simple messages that a reader can found. One of the theme of the story was about open-mindedness. It was clear that in the beginning of the story, the narrator was a close-minded person. However, towards the end, he became an open-minded person, when Robert asked him to draw a cathedral. In the beginning of the story, he saw the world with his own eyes. He only saw the things that surrounded him. He said that “my idea of blindness come from the movie. In the movie, the blind move slowly and never laugh (Carver, 494)”. He did not understand the way that the blind man could live without sight. However, at the end of the story, when Robert asked him to close his eyes while he drew a cathedral, and the narrator keep his eyes close a little bit longer, He said that “it’s really something (Carver, 504)”. Although the story did not tell if he became an open-minded person from that moment on, the reader could tell that he was experiencing something that he never experiencing before, and that somehow it has changed his perspective. The theme of the story could also be about to think before one’s self. It was evident in the story, when the husband said that “I don’t have any blind friends (Carver, 494)”, without thinking that to invite Robert to his house, would meant something to Robert, since it will comfort him, especially after his wife death. This message was clear, especially when his wife became furious at him, and said that “don’t you understand that? The man’s lost his wife! (Carver, 496)” Loneliness was another theme that was found in the story, and this was found when the narrator felt left out. He realized that only his wife and Robert do much of the talking, and he knew that somehow he should join in, as he said that “I…
Appreciably, blindness is a dominant theme woven through the garment of the “Cathedral” story by Raymond Carver. One is taken aback by the utter rawness and cold attitude exhibited by the narrator about the blind man. The narrator loudly wonders on who could dare attend a little wedding between Robert, the blind man and his sweetheart Beulah and further states that he does not have any blind person as a friend. As the story develops, one thing becomes certain that the narrator was blinded and needed to be guided in drawing of the cathedral by Robert, the blind man.…
There are many ways to describe a character. Some ways are through dialogue, character description, language etc. “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver and “Shiloh” by Bobbie Ann Mason, both made characters very similar. However, with similarities also comes differences. Both husbands from Carver and Mason’s short stories both felt unwanted by their wives but in different ways. Carver made the husband feel unwanted by making him jealous while Mason made the character feel unappreciated.…
Acceptance is key, and, under no circumstances can you know what a person may hold for your future. The narrator in Raymond Carver's short story "Cathedral" was not very accepting of his wife contacting the blind man named Robert with the help of tapes. When he came to visit the couple, the narrator, known as "Bub," was shocked to find that the stereotypes of blind men, which he learned by watching movies, were all false. Carver made Bub to be blind, not physically, but to what communication can lead to.…
The blind man and the narrator in “Cathedral” are complete opposites. The narrator is a man. He has a drinking problem and a cannabis abuse: ”Every night I smoked dope and stayed up as long as I could before I fell asleep. My wife and…
His wife expressed that he has no friends. He admitted that, “Every night I smoke dope and stayed up as long as I could before I fall asleep” (Carver 39). He is judgmental when his wife told him that Roberts’s wife name was Beulah he assumed that she was black. His preconceived ideas that blind people do not smoke or have beards come from him forming his option that they are not normal people. The narrator shows additional isolation when his wife and Robert are talking over old times. He sat and listened mostly except to interact occasionally so that they know he was still there. The final act of isolation for the narrator is when he was drawing the cathedral with closed his eyes and continued to keep them closed for a bit after he had finished. He choose to continue to keep his eyes closed at that moment to isolate…
John Updike’s “A&P” and Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” contain main characters who experience an unexpected change in the way they view the world from people that they’ve formed a stereotype of. In “A&P”, Sammy, the main character, is influenced by three young girls while in “Cathedral”, the husband, is influenced by Robert to bring out this change in them. In both texts, the objects for change are similar in that the narrators viewed them negatively, they unexpectedly came in to the narrator’s lives, and they represent a way of escape from the closed world the characters live in.…
In Raymond Carver’s short story Cathedral, he establishes an ignorant narrator, dependent on alcohol and fixated upon physical appearance. He juxtaposes the narrator to a blind man who feels emotion rather than sees it. Through indirect characterization and first person limited point of view, Carver foils the narcissistic narrator to the intuitive blind man while utilizing sight as a symbol of emotional understanding. He establishes the difference between looking and seeing to prove that sight is more than physical.…
From the very beginning it was clear that the true blindness was in the narrator. He was so severely limited by his biased judgments and close-minded view on life that it was at times frustrating to read. Robert may have been physically blind, but he was nowhere near as blind as the narrator was. The differences between Robert and the narrator shows that judgments and prejudices formed in the mind are truly the biggest handicaps a person can have. The only thing we knew about Robert in the beginning was that he was blind. Yet when he is introduced, it is clear that only his vision is closed off. He welcomes the world and new experiences openly. On the other end of this spectrum is the narrator. His vision is open, and he has the luxury of viewing the world, yet he does the exact opposite. The narrator’s ignorance and unwillingness to learn is more of a handicap than Robert’s blindness. It prevents him from enjoying life. He goes through it emotionally detached without the pleasure of living. In the end, when the narrator has his eyes closed drawing the cathedral, he is the most open he has even been to the world. The narrator’s limited point of view in the story was crucial in showing the reader that what will hold you back the most in life are your biases and judgments. If the story was told in Robert’s point of view, it would have been a joyful story about visiting a long time friend, even with the tragedy of his wife’s death. We would have never known of the prejudices that were held inside the husband, and no true theme would have come from the story. The limited point of view was used in a way that expanded upon the theme even more, and made for a stronger story…
Although, this was touched on briefly during the point-of-view analysis, it can be expanded upon much more. In “Cathedral” the reader is taken on the narrator’s journey of discovery with this new experience. In the beginning, the narrator depicts himself as somewhat shallow, cold and unkind. There are also instances of jealousy, prejudice and pettiness. The narrator spends little time providing background on the other characters present in the story. His wife’s first husband is dismissed with the statement, “Her officer—why should he have a name? He was the childhood sweetheart, what more does he want (p. 300)?” Robert, is referred to only as, “the blind man” or “this blind man” throughout most of the story, and his wife’s name is never revealed and the little background info provided is scattered and…
The short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver is told from the point-of-view of the narrator. Speaking in first person, the narrator describes a particular night in which he meets Robert, a blind friend of the narrator’s wife. Because the story is written in the first person, the reader is able to see what the narrator is thinking as well as speaking. Furthermore, because of the point-of-view and the brutal honesty of the narrator, the reader is given a chance to connect with the narrator and follow him through his personal transformation from the beginning of the story until the end.…
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…
When we begin this story, Carver uses the inner dialogue of “Bub,” the narrator, to allow the reader some insight into Bub’s character and his vast ignorance of the world outside of his home. Preceding a visit from his wife’s blind friend, Robert, the narrator makes many brash comments that give a sense of his lack of acquaintance with visually disabled people. Bub admits, “And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed…A blind man in my home was not something I looked forward to.” Although this portrayal of the blind was more stereotypical than accurate, this is all that Bub has witnessed in regards to blindness. Bub uses this depiction as a grounds on which to base his opinion; consequently, he develops…