The Role Of The Narrator In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

In the story the “Cathedral,” by Raymond Carver this is a story of a blind man named Robert gets invited to the narrator’s house. The narrator didn’t like that Robert was coming to his house, but he didn’t have a choice. The narrator didn’t want Robert in his house because he was blind. The narrator’s wife helped Robert in the summertime by reading reports. She is particularly kind toward Robert, more so than she is to her husband, which makes the narrator jealous. One night, Robert went to the narrator’s house to stay with the narrator and his wife. Robert is able to locate everything even though he’s blind, which surprises the narrator. In the end, after staying at his house, the narrator and Robert form a relationship. Throughout the story, the narrator grew as a person. The narrator changes from being prejudiced towards the blind man to being kind and accepting of him. In the beginning of the story, the narrator comes out and says “And him being blind bothered me,” (Carver 86). The narrator and Robert never talked and the narrator was …show more content…
When the narrator, his wife, and Robert sat down to eat the narrator says, “Here’s bread and butter for you,” (Carver 91). The narrator gave Robert the bread and butter, expecting him spread the butter on his bread when he can’t even see. The narrator was being rude here. However, the narrator saw Robert was able to locate where the food was on the table. The narrator said, “I watched with admiration as he used his knife and fork on the meat” (Carver 91). The narrator sat there and admired Robert, as he knew where everything was on the table and the way he cut and ate his food. Robert shocked the narrator. This is sort of a turning point because this is where the narrator starts to admire Robert. Ever since this happened Robert and the narrator started to get along. This is the turning point where the narrator started to start being more kind towards