Raymond Carver Cathedral Essay

“Cathedral” by Raymond Carver is a short story set somewhere in the state of New York during the early stages of color television. The wife, Beulah, brings a blind man, Robert, over to her house to introduce him to her husband. During that evening and most of the story, the focus is on the husband’s view of the blind man and how it changes once he spends time with him. At the end of the story, the husband is experiencing something that he did not predict would happen, and is surprised by it. By using point of view, setting, and symbolism, Raymond Carver suggests that preconceived judgments are not always true. In the story, the first person point of view allows us to see how the narrator’s feelings of the blind man change throughout the story. In the beginning the husband is bothered by Robert coming over. By saying that “his being blind bothered me” (34), he suggested that he was not fond of blind men. The husband then shifts to making jokes about Robert, even about his wife. After Beulah brings up the subject of Robert’s wife dying, the husband …show more content…
In the beginning of the story, the husband states “My idea of blindness came from the movies” (34). By watching movies, the husband has a stereotype of blind men. He then uses this stereotype to believe that Robert will act just like what he saw in those movies. Robert and the husband drawing the cathedral at the end of the story really showed the husband how having preconceived judgments of someone is an error in human behavior. The husband explained the drawing by saying “How could I even describe it” (44). The husband had ran out of words while drawing the cathedral with Robert, which is just like when you see an actual cathedral in real life. These symbols show that face-to-face communication. with someone is best, not watching movies or by listening to tapes of