In the short story, “Cathedral” written by Raymond Carver, the author tells the story in first person, which is very effective because he tends to project some of his own feelings and habits onto the main character such as drinking and loneliness. The reader can pick up that the time is set in the mid-fifties from the talk of new colored television and traditional ways of the household. The main plot in the story is the main character has his wife’s friend good, blind friend stay with them, Robert. With Robert being blind, this gives the main character some uncertain feelings. Throughout the story, the husband realizes that Robert is not the typical stereotype of blind people, which he thought he was going to be. At the end, the main character…
in the poem cathedral by robert carvin the narrator is told by his wife that she is inviting a blind friend over the narrator finds out that his wife has been send audio tapes with a blind man named Robert who she worked for several years ago. at first the narrator was closed minded about the blind man but when the wife bring the blindman from the airport he introduces himself as robert the first thing that came to robert mind was that not what he was expecting a blind man to look like how robert was dressed he was not expecting him to have a full beard and not wear dark glasses.During his visit and dinner, the narrator feels threatened by the relationship his wife and Robert share and he doesn't know why throughout the story the narrator…
In Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral,” Robert’s “seeing” was used to challenge the narrator’s prejudice and narrow mindset. First, Robert quickly showed that his blindness did not hold him back from activities such as smoking and eating. The narrator is uncomfortable with anything that does not fit in the world he knows. He describes the blind man at first as “creepy” and his beard “too much.” At this point, the narrator only thinks of seeing as looking, rather than true insight.…
In the beginning, the narrator implies he is close minded and insensitive. He begins by stating, “A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (34). (Insert fact about social awkwardness around people with disabilities.) The narrator implies also cruel by stating to his wife that he should take the blind man bowling. From the beginning of the short story, the superficial narrator sees people from how they appear on the outside instead of valuing the person’s inside. The drawing of the cathedral marks the climax in the story because it is when the narrator has an epiphany and becomes enlightened. He states with a different perspective, “It was like nothing else in my life up to now” (46). The narrator is compelled to realize what it is like to truly have sight and also distinguishes how to relate with the blind man.…
The narrator, who lack social skills, was not so thrilled about entertaining a blind man and was a little jealous about his wife’s continuing relationship with Robert. He thinks that his wife may have discussed details of their relationship with Robert or possibly complained about his faults, which made him insecure, embarrassed and a little irritated with his wife and Robert.…
Raymond Carver, Jr. was an American short story author and poet. He was born in 1938 and died in 1988. He was married twice, struggled with drugs and alcoholism, and was an unsuccessful writer early on in his career. It was not until his publication of “Cathedral” that he gained success. Carver even believed that “Cathedral was a watershed in his career, in its shift towards a more optimistic and confidently poetic style” (Arciniegas). “Cathedral” starts out slow, spending most of the short story on the back story of the narrator’s wife and a blind man. The story progresses with the three characters doing mostly everyday things, eating, talking, and drinking. While this happens, the narrator’s ideas of the blind are challenged little by…
As I begin to read “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, I cannot comprehend what is going on. The story starts off with a husband named Robert telling the reader about “this” (par.1.) blind man who has been long term friends with his wife and will be coming to visit due to the tragic death of the blind man’s wife. Through the way that this man speaks of the blind person gives the appearance that the husband is not very fond of this person or any blind person. Robert seems very careless and judgmental. As stories of Robert’s wives past with the blind man are told to him, he acts as though he couldn’t care less.…
While Robert was on his way to visit them, the narrator and his wife were talking about what to do when Robert gets here and that wife was telling the narrator to be nice when Robert gets to the house. The narrator told his wife that he would take him Bowling and the wife analyzed the narrator and stated “If you love me,” she said “you can do this for me. If you don’t love me, okay. But if you had a friend, any friend, and the friend came to visit, I’d make him feel comfortable”(page 105). This shows that the narrator wife wants him to do something for her and that when the blind man gets be nice and that she would welcome his friends if they came over she would show them a good time. Also when Robert finally came to the house Robert welcomed him to his home and led him a hand with his bags and takes his hand and shows him around the house by describing it. Later then everybody sat down and he offered Robert a drink and also he turned on the TV for Robert to listen to. The narrator loves his wife and he knows that Robert and hers had friendship in the past made the narrator jealous before Robert arrived at the house, but he decided to be nice and show him a good time to make his wife…
Terry Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, but raised in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, a community near Vancouver on Canada's west coast. As an active teenager involved in many sports, in 1977 Terry was only 18 years old when he was diagnosed with bone cancer and forced to have his right leg amputated six inches above the knee.…
This is characteristic of her good nature and true compassion for her friend. At first, her husband was sketchy about the blind man coming to visit, and a little scared. The blind man was not what the husband expected. The blind man did not have dark glasses or a cane, and he smoked. The husband did not think that blind people smoked because of his own stereotypes he felt towards the blind. As the evening went on, it was apparent that the husband and wife were having a small conflict because of the husband's feelings towards the blind man. You can see both sides of this conflict. The wife is just being kind to a friend, but then again, I can see how Bub" would feel somewhat inferior because he really had no "say" to who would come into and stay in their home. The husband offered the blind man whiskey and they had dinner. When they were finished eating, they went and sat on the couch. The blind man and the woman were reminiscing about what they have missed in each other's lives for the past ten years. You can tell how happy this is making the wife; there is nothing like reminiscing with an old buddy! The wife definitely deserves this! The visit from Robert is as important to the wife as anything. When she falls asleep on the couch between the blind man and her husband - is her intention, I believe, to bring these two closer together. She wants her husband to see what she sees in Robert. Her going upstairs, provides…
“All this without his having seen what the goddamned woman looked like. It was beyond my understanding” (3). As the two men spend time together, the husband is able to step out of his comfort zone and realize that Robert is just like any other. He began to realize Robert has done more with his life than he had. This amazed, as well as confused him. What had he been spending all his life doing? And now he's going to look down to someone who has accomplished more than him?…
In the short story “Cathedral,” by Raymond Carver, the narrator draws a cathedral with his blind guest and transforms from a narrow-minded, materialistic, and superficial individual to an individual who acknowledges the spiritual aspects of life and the lives of those around him. Before the egoist narrator meets the blind man, Bub is so closed-minded, jealous, and materialistic that he does not want to help someone in need and he does not empathize with the hardships others endure. However, after Bub communicates with Robert and engineers an emotional connection, he is no longer limited by his former characteristics. Through this emotional link, Robert assists Bub in opening his mind to the spiritual world and feeling empathy for others.…
A persons ability to see is often taken for granted as it is in the story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver. Although the title hints that the story is about a cathedral, it is really about two men who are blind. one of the men is Robert, the blind friend of the narrators wife. The other is the narrator, the husband himself; he is psychologically blind. through the husbands words and actions when he is dealing with Robert, the blind man, it is shown that the husband doesn’t “see” or understand what Roberts blindness means and how it changes or doesn’t change him as a person. At first, Robert makes the husband feel very uncomfortable, for the husband doesn’t know what to say or do around the blind man. As the story progresses, we can see a change in the husband, he seems to be able to see Robert as a person and not just a blind man.…
In life people demonstrate many characteristics which make that person who they are; while these characteristics define the actions made by people, they also help others to determine why such actions were made, while also characterize them for what that person has done or will do. In today’s society certain characteristics are viewed in a negative light due to the changing ways of everyday life and increasing deviation of traditional American views to ones of a more liberal nature. In “Cathedral” Raymond Carver writes of a man who is addicted to drugs and alcohol, which creates psychological distance from the narrator, his wife, and the blind man. This is caused by the narrators need to escape reality and enjoy a world that is not his own.…
It was the championship game of my 8th grade AJAA basketball season and my team was down one point and with two seconds left. The point guard Alex passed me the ball under the basket and as I was going up for the shot, I got fouled. I stepped up to the free throw line cool and composed and banked in my first free throw. I wiped the sweat off my forehead and without hesitating; I knocked down the second free throw. I won the championship game for my team because I knew how to make free throws. Free throws are without a doubt one of the most important aspects in basketball, and as history shows, they win championships. Although most people…