Raymond Carver Cathedral Essay

Raymond’s Carver is an American writer that wrote the short story, “Cathedral,” that uses a first person point of view narration in which the narrator fundamentally transforms and is enlightened with a self-realization. The story transitions in a change in the tone of the narrator as being sarcastic, judgmental, and insulting in which he experiences an epiphany and has a brighter perception. The story begins with the feeling of apprehension of the gathering of his wife’s friend Robert who is legally blind. The narrator feels threatened and has negative perceptions about the blind man. Robert’s ordinary behavior fascinates the narrator’s stereotype label of individuals that are blind. Even though Robert is legally blind, he is able to comprehend …show more content…
He is unable to understand his wife’s meaningful poems and her emotions. Robert and his wife have been friends for over ten years in which they exchange audio tapes being empathetic. The reader can see that the wife needs Roberts friendship to fulfil and express her feelings, which is lacking in the marriage. Through conversation with his wife regarding Robert’s recently deceased wife, Beulah, the reader can see that the narrator is narrow-minded and disregards internal emotions. The narrator’s wife states, "Besides, […] goddamn it, his wife just died. Don't you understand that? The man's lost his wife! (Carver, 2013, p.301).” The narrator’s wife knows that he does not understand how to be sympathetic in which she repeats herself, making it obvious to the …show more content…
Throughout the night, they had plenty of alcoholic drinks that were a familiarity in his lifestyle. “Right then my wife filled me in with more details than I cared to know. I made a drink and sat at the table to listen (Carver, 2013, p. 301).” The narrator is uneasy with communication with his wife and tolerates the conversation that he is uninterested knowing by easing the tension through alcoholic drinks. Additionally, the narrator’s lifestyle revolved around drugs to tolerate life, he states, “let me get you a drink. What’s your pleasure? We have a little of everything. It’s one of our pastimes (Carver, 2013, p. 304).” Also, the narrator would smoke marijuana daily until he was able to fall asleep. The narrator was suffering internally from his unconscious mind and would wake up from unpleasant dreams. The term referred by Sigmund Freud defining his thoughts and perceptions that he is not aware of. The narrator also admitted he was unhappy with his profession and struggles with coping with his dysfunctional marriage that revolves around drugs and