In the short story “Cathedral”, the author Raymond Carver uses the idea of marriage to further address the act of discrimination toward the blind man and his wife. It demonstrates by the narrator’s jealousy when he talks about the blind man’s marriage. The narrator attack other people’s marriages in order to make him feel better about his own marriage. The blind man name is Robert; notice that the narrator never uses “Robert” when he speaks. He often says “the blind man” when he talks about Robert. It is a discriminatory act against Robert’s disability; the readers know that Robert’s blind, so it’s not necessary repeatedly telling the readers about it. The discrimination doesn’t stop at Robert’s disability, but expand to the wife’s racial
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In the story, it says, “Her name was Beulah. Beulah! That’s a name for a colored woman. ‘Was his wife a Negro?’ I asked” (Carver 34). The narrator assumed the blind man’s wife race; he quickly concludes that she was “a colored woman” based on her name without even meeting her. The author uses an exclamation mark after “Beulah”, which shows that the narrator is very surprised when he hear the wife’s name. It shows that the narrator is used to marriage with the same race and skin color. The word “Negro” at the time is often used as a negative word for people with darker skin color. The narrator also slightly talks about the blind man’s wedding; it shows the unacceptable marriage between them. The text says, “It was a little wedding – who’d want to go to such a wedding in the first place?” (Carver 34). The narrator’s tone toward their wedding is very negative showing a sign of discrimination. The language suggested that the people shouldn’t be together; it further shows that differences in race between Robert and his wife is not acceptable to be married. The racial segregation already ended at the time when the story was published in 1983, but there is still discrimination among individuals within a society. In the passage, the narrator’s wife says, “‘What’s wrong with you?’ she said. ‘Are you drunk?’ ” (Carver 34). It shows that the narrator’s wife understand that …show more content…
In the text, it says, “‘If you love me’, she said. ‘you can do this for me” (Carver 34). The wife’s tone when she speaks is gentle when she asked her husband to do something for her. The word “If” means that the wife is giving her husband a choice to do it or not. When the author uses “love” to suggest that they have a close relationship in their marriage. Then, the status of their marriage change to another perspective, it says, “‘You don’t have any friends”, she said. ‘Period. Besides’, she said. ‘goddamn it, his wife’s just died!” (Carver 34). The wife’s attitude in when she speaks is like a command over her husband. She uses the word “Period”, which tell the readers that the husband cannot disagree with whatever the wife said. The word stand-alone as its own sentence implies that the wife is dominance role, which indicated that whatever she said is correct. She also let the readers know that the husband doesn’t have any friends; it suggests that the husband are not well interacting with other people so he doesn’t have any friends. The author shows that the narrator’s wife is in control. At the time, in a marriage, the idea that men are in control over women, but that idea doesn’t apply in the narrator’s
In the story, it says, “Her name was Beulah. Beulah! That’s a name for a colored woman. ‘Was his wife a Negro?’ I asked” (Carver 34). The narrator assumed the blind man’s wife race; he quickly concludes that she was “a colored woman” based on her name without even meeting her. The author uses an exclamation mark after “Beulah”, which shows that the narrator is very surprised when he hear the wife’s name. It shows that the narrator is used to marriage with the same race and skin color. The word “Negro” at the time is often used as a negative word for people with darker skin color. The narrator also slightly talks about the blind man’s wedding; it shows the unacceptable marriage between them. The text says, “It was a little wedding – who’d want to go to such a wedding in the first place?” (Carver 34). The narrator’s tone toward their wedding is very negative showing a sign of discrimination. The language suggested that the people shouldn’t be together; it further shows that differences in race between Robert and his wife is not acceptable to be married. The racial segregation already ended at the time when the story was published in 1983, but there is still discrimination among individuals within a society. In the passage, the narrator’s wife says, “‘What’s wrong with you?’ she said. ‘Are you drunk?’ ” (Carver 34). It shows that the narrator’s wife understand that …show more content…
In the text, it says, “‘If you love me’, she said. ‘you can do this for me” (Carver 34). The wife’s tone when she speaks is gentle when she asked her husband to do something for her. The word “If” means that the wife is giving her husband a choice to do it or not. When the author uses “love” to suggest that they have a close relationship in their marriage. Then, the status of their marriage change to another perspective, it says, “‘You don’t have any friends”, she said. ‘Period. Besides’, she said. ‘goddamn it, his wife’s just died!” (Carver 34). The wife’s attitude in when she speaks is like a command over her husband. She uses the word “Period”, which tell the readers that the husband cannot disagree with whatever the wife said. The word stand-alone as its own sentence implies that the wife is dominance role, which indicated that whatever she said is correct. She also let the readers know that the husband doesn’t have any friends; it suggests that the husband are not well interacting with other people so he doesn’t have any friends. The author shows that the narrator’s wife is in control. At the time, in a marriage, the idea that men are in control over women, but that idea doesn’t apply in the narrator’s