Dynamic And Dynamic Character In Cathedral

A story that includes a description of a character’s turmoil may cause readers to relate to the character’s emotions, whereas a story that is told from the external point of view might not produce the same empathy in readers. In the same way, how character is portrayed influences a story as well. There are different types of characters in literature; the main characters in “Cathedral” are complex, dynamic, and static. A complex character is one whose personality is described in detail. Moreover, the difference between dynamic and static characters lies in the fact that a dynamic character changes throughout the story, while a static character stays the same. Dynamic/complex characters are often the protagonists in narrations because the author …show more content…
The narrator was a complex and dynamic character. This character was not given a name nor described, but the readers got to know him by his thoughts about others or about a situation. At the beginning, we saw that he had an antipathetic attitude towards Robert, his wife´s blind friend, for he stated, “I wasn´t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me.” Then, while the visitor and the narrator´s wife talked, the narrator did not get involved much in the conversation; however, he joined in from time to time. Later, when his wife fell asleep, he was forced to interact with Robert. These two started watching TV together, and while doing so, Robert asked the narrator if he could describe for him how a cathedral looks like. Even though the narrator was not sure about how to describe it, he tried, and eventually he failed the task. Robert asked him to make a drawing of it while he placed his hand over the narrators, who accepted it. After drawing the cathedral, the narrator had a moment of epiphany. He realized then, that one cannot only see through one´s eyes, but also with one´s soul. This can be seen as he stated: “My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But it didn´t feel like I was inside anything.” Now his mind opened and he became no more limited by what he could see through his natural …show more content…
His personality was known by his actions. It was implied that Robert was also a good listener since he liked to listen to audiotapes that the narrator´s wife sent him. Also, Robert seemed like a man with no limitations, even though he was blind. Though living a visionless life, Robert managed to balance his life with his overly developed senses. He “saw” with his mind and soul, not with his eyes. This became evident when Robert stated, “I´ve had a really nice time. This beats tapes doesn´t it?.” Sightless Robert was able to discern the tapes from human interaction, since he was able to feel people’s presence. Additionally, Robert displayed different traits as he interacted with each of the other characters. The narrator´s wife thought she knew Robert, but when she found him smoking marihuana with her husband, she was surprised. From this, we then see that Robert was a round character.
Furthermore the blind man and the wife were also examples of static characters, as they remained the same. Though the narrator´s wife and Robert kept in touch during all those years, the narrator said that when this man visited “[his wife and the man] talked of things that had happened to them… these past ten years.” Then, we can see that these two characters did not