The narrator makes it obvious from the beginning that he is unhappy about the blind man’s visit. His initial complaints against the Robert (the blind man) seem to stem from jealousy, after all, his wife and this mysterious man are exchanging tapes through mail. It is easy to see how the narrator could be jealous of his wife having this pen-pal relationship with another man, but his apprehension does not end there. The narrator’s comments also seem to indicate that he dislikes the man simply because of his blindness. He says that “[his] idea[s] of blindness came from the movies.…
Similarly, to a blind man, he has lost his direction, ‘I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside of anything’ . What he knows and what he feels have become opposites leaving him unsure of his surroundings. Robert has slowly been able to convince the narrator to understand what he must deal with, and this reality leaves the narrator unnerved and confused as his perspective.…
The narrator doesn't know how to act around Robert and is jealous of the relationship he has with the narrator's wife since he knows that they talk about him. This demonstrates sincere insecurity that the narrator feels about himself due to the actions of both his wife and Robert. The blind man proves himself to be an outgoing, kind person, despite the narrator’s hostility at first. After dinner, the two men drink and smoke together, and once under the influence, the narrator finally lets his guard down with Robert. Robert's blindness makes him more open as he shares secrets that are quite intimate.…
The very thought of describing such an object was intimidating to the narrator. This is clear when he says, “Say my life was being threatened by an insane guy who said I had to do it or else” (44). This fear is what led the narrator to begin describing, and to continue even when he knew his description was not making a clear picture in Robert’s mind. After a while, the narrator gives up, stating that cathedrals are not too important to him anyway. Robert had another idea in mind.…
It was him who essentially helped the narrator's wife come out of a dark time in her life. Without Robert, she might have even tried once more to take her own life. The bitterness the narrator has towards Robert is caused by his own inability to feel and understand emotions. While Robert may not be able to see, he can still love and give love to someone else, whether that be his late wife or his childhood friend. Later on in the story, when Robert visits the narrator and his wife, there is an awkwardness between him and the narrator.…
To conclude, this story is about blindness; what people with vision fail to see and take for granted and what people without vision value and appreciate. Robert appreciated all the time he had with his wife up until she died even though he never got the chance to physically see her. The narrator sees his wife every day and cannot understand how the blind man was okay with not being able to see the physical appearance of his wife. They have different insights on relationships. Robert believes that it is okay not to be able to see your spouse because you love them for you they are and not what they look like.…
One thing that is particularly mysterious or strange is the narrator’s view of the blind man. The narrator himself states that he has never had a blind friend before, and clearly does not know how to act around someone lacking the ability of sight. In the beginning, the narrator has a close-minded and straightforward viewpoint about his thoughts and opinions. He only sees what is on the surface of a person, not what lies beneath them in their character. By spending time with Robert, who is an open-minded and compassionate person himself, he learns to see from a new and different perspective.…
Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral”, is from the view of a first-person narrative about a man who is unamused by his wife’s blind friend coming to stay in their home. His wife received a summer job ten years ago with this blind man, Robert. Over the years the two communicate through tapes, telling each other how their lives have changed since they had last seen each other. Throughout the story, the narrator is insensitive toward the connection that his wife and the blind man have. In this essay, I will discuss the narrator’s characteristics of self-absorption and jealousy leading to realization, which relates to how Carver’s use of dirty realism is influential to the obstacle that can be faced with blindness.…
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is told in first person by the narrator through her journal entries. The main character, who is the protagonist, is sent to a mansion due to an illness and her husband’s need to heal her. She is alone and stuck in her own mind, and creates these fantasies to try and overlook her reality. “The Yellow Wallpaper”, describes a woman who has been driven to insanity due to postpartum depression. However, due to her treatment, a time period full of women's inequality, and a husband who clearly is her oppressor, the narrator was not driven to insanity through post partum depression, but rather by her husband and her need for an identity.…
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story “The Yellow Wallpaper” has important themes of the cruel treatment of women, and how marriage causes unhappiness, and lacks freedom for women. The short story was made into a movie in 1989 by the British Broadcasting Company. Both forms tell a similar story, although there are many differences as well. The book better presents the message of the story then the movie does.…
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin focus on women in the era of 19th century. “The Yellow Wallpaper” describes an unnamed female (the narrator) who begins to suffer from a postpartum disease and is confined to a room with a strange wallpaper. This odd wallpaper symbolizes the complexity and confusion in her life. In “The Story of an Hour”, Mrs. Mallard must also deal with conflict as she must deal with the death of her husband.…
In the story "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, written in the 1890s, the narrator is put on a rest-cure which was popular for females during that time period. A rest-cure is a treatment for women who have nervous disorders, and consists of complete rest. The narrator 's husband orders her to be put on a rest-cure, and throughout the story her husband gives her no freedom to do anything beside resting and being locked up in a room. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman story "The Yellow Wallpaper", Gilman uses imagery of a creepy old house and the symbolic bars of the wallpaper in order to show readers that the narrator feels trapped. Over time the wallpaper changes its shape and color as she becomes more ill, and this suggests that…
Comparison of “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “A Room of One’s Own” Throughout history the rights of women have been considered as a prominent issue because society has tended to believe that women cannot do what men can. Women have always been considered lower then men and have strived for equal rights for many years causing many uproars and debates. After many writings, rallies and debates the rights of women have changed overtime. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “A Room of One’s Own” by Virginia Woolf both discuss women and how they were treated during their perspective time periods. These two female authors discuss important aspects of women’s history and their individual viewpoints.…
The Yellow Wallpaper What the treatment of women was for marriage and society in 1892. The “yellow wallpaper "by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, her think the wallpaper does not try to express the attempt to escape from the narrator of her husband, since he was not understanding well in her depression. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1892) this story is told in the first person, focused entirely on the thoughts, feelings and perceptions of the narrator. The struggle between the narrator and her husband, who in turn is her doctor, on the nature and treatment of her nervous problems, leads to a conflict within the narrator's mind during most of the story. The narrator can be assumed to be a young woman, who suffers from nervous…
The Setting - Settings are major components of any story written. When reading a story it is often times the first important bit of information one will receive. The setting lays the framework for the entire story by introducing the mood of the story, and foreshadowing future events. The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is set in the late 1800s.…