“Cathedral” by R. Carver Lola Helms He uses the sense of sight to show what the blind man is deprived of, but he also uses the sense of touch in order to show what the blind man has. Because the blind man has no sight, he could not read or watch television. When he fell in love with his wife and married her, living all those years by her side, he could not see her. He had no idea what she really looked like, and she passed away without being able to see herself in his eyes. The blind man is unable to see the Cathedral on television. However, the blind man’s ability to touch shows what he enjoys in life. He was able to touch the face of the person who cared for him and remain in contact with her for years. He
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Then she got into a hot bath and passed out. But instead of dying, she got sick. She threw up. Her officer—why should he have a name? he was the childhood sweetheart, and what more does he want?—came home from somewhere, found her, and called the ambulance. In time, she put it all on tape and sent the tape to the blind man.” This set of sentences also has a deep meaning. The fact that that the narrator’s wife was so close to the Blind Man that she sent him tapes of the suicide, did not send any alarm to the narrator. At no point in the story does the narrator show the slightest jealousy for the affections of his wife, or envy the relationship the blind man has with his wife. It’s almost as if he does not love her. Another deep sentence is when the blind man says “I have a color set and a black-and-white thing, an old relic. It’s funny, but if I turn the TV on, and I’m always turning it on, I turn on the color set.” This is not only ironic but symbolic. While the blind man may not be able to see, he still acts as if he does. He imagines as if he could see those things going on. One more quote that is really deep is when the blind man is talking about Cathedrals speaks about their builders “The men who began their life’s work on them, they never lived to see the completion of their work. In that wise, bub, they’re no different from the rest of us, right?” These men could see what they were working on, but they did not have the power to see what came after they passed away. It’s as though the blind man is calling everyone blind in some
Then she got into a hot bath and passed out. But instead of dying, she got sick. She threw up. Her officer—why should he have a name? he was the childhood sweetheart, and what more does he want?—came home from somewhere, found her, and called the ambulance. In time, she put it all on tape and sent the tape to the blind man.” This set of sentences also has a deep meaning. The fact that that the narrator’s wife was so close to the Blind Man that she sent him tapes of the suicide, did not send any alarm to the narrator. At no point in the story does the narrator show the slightest jealousy for the affections of his wife, or envy the relationship the blind man has with his wife. It’s almost as if he does not love her. Another deep sentence is when the blind man says “I have a color set and a black-and-white thing, an old relic. It’s funny, but if I turn the TV on, and I’m always turning it on, I turn on the color set.” This is not only ironic but symbolic. While the blind man may not be able to see, he still acts as if he does. He imagines as if he could see those things going on. One more quote that is really deep is when the blind man is talking about Cathedrals speaks about their builders “The men who began their life’s work on them, they never lived to see the completion of their work. In that wise, bub, they’re no different from the rest of us, right?” These men could see what they were working on, but they did not have the power to see what came after they passed away. It’s as though the blind man is calling everyone blind in some