The short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver is told from the point-of-view of the narrator. Speaking in first person, the narrator describes a particular night in which he meets Robert, a blind friend of the narrator’s wife. Because the story is written in the first person, the reader is able to see what the narrator is thinking as well as speaking. Furthermore, because of the point-of-view and the brutal honesty of the narrator, the reader is given a chance to connect with the narrator and follow him through his personal transformation from the beginning of the story until the end.
Since the narrator is speaking in first person, one learns a lot about the narrator’s inner thoughts and feelings and is able to experience the events of the …show more content…
Since the narrator is speaking in first person, he can be selective on what backstories and segments of dialogue he includes. So, when the narrator talks about his wife, the reader can feel some tension in the relationship. Besides the fact that they do not sleep together, the narrator seems to show their lack of communication when he includes his wife’s ultimatum, “If you love me […] you can do this for me. If you don’t love me, okay. But if you had a friend, any friend, and the friend came to visit, I’d make them feel comfortable” (301). If they were able to communicate, she would not have had to use the “if you love me” card. The reader can also see that the narrator is also a bit jealous and feels almost threatened by Robert and other men. For example, when talking about his wife, he brings up her ex-husband and only refers to him as “her officer” and does not give him a name because “why should he have a name?” (300). He also describes “her officer” as a man who is never home, and it seems that he threw in her attempted suicide to make him feel like a better husband because she has not tried to kill herself since they have been together. When it comes to Robert, the narrator also refers to him as “her blind man.” The fact that he uses the possessive ‘her’ seems to emphasize his jealousy because if she were just talking to any old blind guy, there would not be a problem, but because it is “her blind man,” it seems to bother him more. He knows that his wife and Robert have a close bond, and he seems envious of him and their relationship when he says “She and I began going out, and of course she told her blind man about it. She told him everything” (301). This also ties in with
Since the narrator is speaking in first person, one learns a lot about the narrator’s inner thoughts and feelings and is able to experience the events of the …show more content…
Since the narrator is speaking in first person, he can be selective on what backstories and segments of dialogue he includes. So, when the narrator talks about his wife, the reader can feel some tension in the relationship. Besides the fact that they do not sleep together, the narrator seems to show their lack of communication when he includes his wife’s ultimatum, “If you love me […] you can do this for me. If you don’t love me, okay. But if you had a friend, any friend, and the friend came to visit, I’d make them feel comfortable” (301). If they were able to communicate, she would not have had to use the “if you love me” card. The reader can also see that the narrator is also a bit jealous and feels almost threatened by Robert and other men. For example, when talking about his wife, he brings up her ex-husband and only refers to him as “her officer” and does not give him a name because “why should he have a name?” (300). He also describes “her officer” as a man who is never home, and it seems that he threw in her attempted suicide to make him feel like a better husband because she has not tried to kill herself since they have been together. When it comes to Robert, the narrator also refers to him as “her blind man.” The fact that he uses the possessive ‘her’ seems to emphasize his jealousy because if she were just talking to any old blind guy, there would not be a problem, but because it is “her blind man,” it seems to bother him more. He knows that his wife and Robert have a close bond, and he seems envious of him and their relationship when he says “She and I began going out, and of course she told her blind man about it. She told him everything” (301). This also ties in with