In Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” he shows that just because someone can see does not mean that they cannot also be blind to somethings. Often because someone is blind people look at them as if they cannot do as much as someone that can see, but because they are blind they realize or “see” things that others do not. The narrator thinks this way about the blind man, Robert, through most of the story. Carver uses the narrator’s point of view, imagery, and tone to show the reader how the narrator is “the blind leading the blind.” One of the big things Carver uses to show that the narrator is “the blind leading the blind” is writing the story from the narrator’s point of view. At the beginning of the story the narrator talks in a negative manner
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When the narrator says “what a pitiful life this woman must have led. Imagine a woman who could never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one” about Robert’s wife, he is being blind to the fact that there is more to love than looks (745). It seems the narrator puts the looks of something at a very important level for love, but Robert’s wife can feel just as much love from Robert as someone who can see her, even though Robert cannot see what she looks like. This becomes more obvious when the narrator says he thinks her last thoughts before she died was “he never even knew what she looked like” (746). When he talks about this he is also treating Robert’s wife as nothing but something to look at, that women need to look nice for someone to like them. Towards the end of the story the narrator asks Robert “Do you have any idea what a cathedral is? What they look like” because they …show more content…
At the beginning of the story when the narrator talks about him and his wife first going out the narrator says “I didn’t think much of the poem… Maybe I just don’t understand poetry” (744). This is another way to show how the narrator is blind, not because he does not understand poetry, but because he does not understand the importance of the relationship his wife and Robert share. He does not realize the importance of knowing someone with a different life experience as
When the narrator says “what a pitiful life this woman must have led. Imagine a woman who could never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one” about Robert’s wife, he is being blind to the fact that there is more to love than looks (745). It seems the narrator puts the looks of something at a very important level for love, but Robert’s wife can feel just as much love from Robert as someone who can see her, even though Robert cannot see what she looks like. This becomes more obvious when the narrator says he thinks her last thoughts before she died was “he never even knew what she looked like” (746). When he talks about this he is also treating Robert’s wife as nothing but something to look at, that women need to look nice for someone to like them. Towards the end of the story the narrator asks Robert “Do you have any idea what a cathedral is? What they look like” because they …show more content…
At the beginning of the story when the narrator talks about him and his wife first going out the narrator says “I didn’t think much of the poem… Maybe I just don’t understand poetry” (744). This is another way to show how the narrator is blind, not because he does not understand poetry, but because he does not understand the importance of the relationship his wife and Robert share. He does not realize the importance of knowing someone with a different life experience as