Racism Vs. Alexie's Short Story 'Cathedral'

While reading each story, I found some clues that gave me some background about the characters and era of the story. In the story, “Cathedral”, the first thing I noticed was that the blind man and the wife were using cassette tapes to pass on messages, this made me aware this story was not in a modern setting. The horror to which the wife reacted when it was suggested Roberts wife Beulah may have been African American, and the referring to Beulah as being a Negro name also made me aware of the era. I realized the “Cathedral”, story is based in New York because the husband states when coming to New York you sit on the right of the train, and when leaving New York, you sit on the left. He then proceeds to ask Robert which side of the train he sat on, and Robert states he sat on the right side. The story also spends time emphasizing the fact that they own a color TV, and Robert uses the word swell when speaking. All these clues lead me to believe that the story, “Cathedral”, was set in the 1950’s. The story, “Flight Pattern” is set in Seattle and takes place in somewhat modern times. “Flight Pattern” takes place during the early years surround the terrorist acts of 9/11. This is shown when William seems uncomfortable at the airport and seems to be stereotyping people of brown skin and …show more content…
They are not perfect or stereotypical he makes them multidimensional and a bit flawed. William who himself has been discriminated against must stop himself from stereotyping Fekado because of his skin tone. Fekado is a cab driver, but he’s also a man who is intelligent, brave, and pained over the loss of his beautiful family. William does not see Fekado when first meeting him all he sees is skin, however, he can eventually see they are both humans. Alexie’s view of humanity is an accurate portrayal because stereotypes don’t define who we are