In “Cathedral” Raymond Carver writes about how the ability to understand through senses other than sight can enable a person to obtain a deeper understanding with what they engage in. The narrator who is the husband in the story is visited by his wife’s blind friend. Originally the blind man has come to see the woman his friend who he hasn’t seen in years, however in this story the narrator is the one who benefits most from the presence of the blind man. Although the narrator is her husband the blind man seems to know more about the woman than him, the wife and the blind man have been communicating by sending tapes with recorded messages and poems to each other through mail since before the woman married her now husband, when the husband has the chance to read one of her poems admittedly writes that “Maybe I just don’t understand poetry”. (357). Initially in the story the narrator expresses his unease and discomfort about the situation of the blind man coming to his home.
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His perception of blind people comes from images on a screen in his living room. “My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing-eye dogs. A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to.” (356).The husband is hasty to judge the situation before he knows all the details. He seems threatened by this man because of the close relationship that the blind man and his wife share.
It’s as if the blind man represents a part of the narrator that he lacks because he is unable to understand his wife as good as the blind man. After reading parts of the text it’s easy to fall into the idea that this guy is kind of an insensitive ass. He’s frequently drinking alcohol and not really doing anything particularly important while his wife busies herself with house work.
At the moment where the blind man and narrator meet they shake hands at the entrance of the house and the blind man says “I feel like we’ve already met,” The narrator is unsure what to say and replies with a more passive answer “Likewise,” (361). The blind man already has a pretty clear idea of the husband because of considering tapes he has heard sent by his wife. However it seems that the husband instead of considering his wife’s description of the blind man has relied on the clichéd portrayal of blind people in movies. The blind man relies on his other senses to perceive the world whereas the husband relies mainly on his eyes and views things subjectively instead of how they actually are. After having a feast at the dinner table stuffing themselves with pie they move to the dinner table to converse while indulging in some hard liquor. The wife is continually offended at the questions her husband asks the blind man but to her surprise the blind man answers them surprising accuracy. After a while the husband turns on the television and his wife looks at him with disgust. The woman asks the blind man “Robert, do you have a TV?” (365) to the woman’s surprise the man said he has two TV’s one coloured and one black and white. The blind man continues to say that he prefers to watch the coloured TV and that he can tell whether or not it’s a colour or a black and white television. Carver portrays the blind man to be able to see in other ways. A blind man watching coloured television is a way of showing the reader that he is capable of seeing in a different way. As they continue to drink the wife goes upstairs to change into her nightgown and the men continue to listen and watch the TV and as they do the husband offers him to smoke some cannabis and as they smoke the wife comes down, sees what’s going on and gives a “savage” look to her husband. Outnumbered two to one she joins them for a couple tokes and soon sinks into the couch allowing the two to have a moment. The man offers to take the blind man up to his
His perception of blind people comes from images on a screen in his living room. “My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing-eye dogs. A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to.” (356).The husband is hasty to judge the situation before he knows all the details. He seems threatened by this man because of the close relationship that the blind man and his wife share.
It’s as if the blind man represents a part of the narrator that he lacks because he is unable to understand his wife as good as the blind man. After reading parts of the text it’s easy to fall into the idea that this guy is kind of an insensitive ass. He’s frequently drinking alcohol and not really doing anything particularly important while his wife busies herself with house work.
At the moment where the blind man and narrator meet they shake hands at the entrance of the house and the blind man says “I feel like we’ve already met,” The narrator is unsure what to say and replies with a more passive answer “Likewise,” (361). The blind man already has a pretty clear idea of the husband because of considering tapes he has heard sent by his wife. However it seems that the husband instead of considering his wife’s description of the blind man has relied on the clichéd portrayal of blind people in movies. The blind man relies on his other senses to perceive the world whereas the husband relies mainly on his eyes and views things subjectively instead of how they actually are. After having a feast at the dinner table stuffing themselves with pie they move to the dinner table to converse while indulging in some hard liquor. The wife is continually offended at the questions her husband asks the blind man but to her surprise the blind man answers them surprising accuracy. After a while the husband turns on the television and his wife looks at him with disgust. The woman asks the blind man “Robert, do you have a TV?” (365) to the woman’s surprise the man said he has two TV’s one coloured and one black and white. The blind man continues to say that he prefers to watch the coloured TV and that he can tell whether or not it’s a colour or a black and white television. Carver portrays the blind man to be able to see in other ways. A blind man watching coloured television is a way of showing the reader that he is capable of seeing in a different way. As they continue to drink the wife goes upstairs to change into her nightgown and the men continue to listen and watch the TV and as they do the husband offers him to smoke some cannabis and as they smoke the wife comes down, sees what’s going on and gives a “savage” look to her husband. Outnumbered two to one she joins them for a couple tokes and soon sinks into the couch allowing the two to have a moment. The man offers to take the blind man up to his