4. Cathedral is in first person point of view. It revealed attitude, feelings and isolation between Robert and the narrator that was broken at the end of the story.…
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…
St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral is one of the first Cathedrals built in New York. It is also known as the original Cathedral of the Archdiocese of New York. The church was built over 200 years ago in New York City and it has stood as a symbol for people of this country to practice your religion freely. The Cathedral serves a very diverse community of catholics such as Italians, Hispanics, and Asians. The cathedral throughout the years has done a great job of uniting these people from different origins and bringing them all closer to God through the church.…
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 the beginning of the "Cathedral" the narrator comes off very prejudice. Raymond Carver says "my idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed." The narrators’ attitude towards the blind and how they live their life is very naive. Unlike her husband the narrators wife is understanding and compassionate. Although interactions between the two couple would suggest their marriage was in strife. As for Robert he is the blind man who joins the group already being good friends with the narrator’s wife. The narrator at first is uncomfortable around Robert. But as interactions between the two men progress the narrator is finally able to see what his wife saw in Robert the whole time. A kind and ordinary man, who was no different than you and…
The narrator in Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral,” is portrayed as someone who lacks insight and awareness of the things around him. He is paralyzed, stuck in a destructive way of living. The narrator does not realize the limitations he has placed on himself that prevent him from seeing things greater than life.…
When he hears a bit of Robert’s tape, he says it sounds only like “harmless chitchat,” not realizing that this sort of intimate communication is exactly what his own marriage lacks. He knows that his wife has told Robert about him and has probably complained about his faults. This makes him feel guilty, insecure, and somewhat hostile toward both his wife and Robert. Only when the narrator closes his eyes to finish drawing the cathedral does he approach the level of understanding that his wife and Robert have achieved through their taped correspondence. This reveals the extent of his self-delusion and what he believes is what is important in a relationship. He assumes that because he can see, he is more capable of brining joy and happiness to his wife as compared to Robert. But the audiotapes show that there is a huge difference between seeing with one’s eyes and seeing with one’s heart. For the first time he is seeing, rather than…
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.…
"My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn't feel like I was inside anything. It's really something I said." This statement is said by the narrator of the story at the end of the story, where at this point you finally come to the realization of what the true meaning or theme is behind the story. Cathedral, by Raymond Carver, shows that you do not have to see someone or something in order to appreciate them for who or what they are. It is about a husband, the narrator, and his wife who live in a house. The wife, whose name they do not mention, has a very close friend who is blind. His name is Nick. Nick's wife dies, and comes to their house to spend a couple of days with the narrator and his wife. The narrator, whose name they do not mention as well, is always on edge because he does not really know Nick very well and he does not like blind people, but he is being friendly for his wife's sake. The story comes to an end, when Nick and the narrator draw a Cathedral together using the narrator's hand and helped by Nick. This story does follow typical dramatic development, which helps develop the theme perfectly. In the beginning of the story Carver, the author, gives you an idea of what type of characters you are working with. He then forms the rising action with conversation among the three characters. The climax is when the blind man, Nick, and the narrator begin to draw the Cathedral, which leads up to the resolution of how the narrator becomes changed and learns a valuable lesson, which is the overall theme of the story.…
In the story the “Cathedral”, by Raymond Carver, the narrator, Bub is a man of unknowing stuff, and usually assumes things without knowing the knowledge of certain things. For example, Robert a blind man, who visited bub, and his wife, and bub didn’t like the feeling a blind man coming to his home. Robert knew bubs wife from the past from a place where they read stories to blind people. Later in the story bub notices his wife and Robert were talking, and laughing, and just having a good time, which bothered Bub. Lastly, in the story the narrator and Robert had connected in the end by having the narrator drawing the cathedral and having him closing his eyes and that the narrator realized how it feels to be blind and that’s he likes the feeling.…
In the story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, the narrator is overwhelmed with disappointment and misunderstanding in his own life. He doesn’t see all the beauty and creativity in the world, but merely goes through the motions of life without actively living. Blindness is an underlying theme in this story, but not only as a physicality, but a social handicap. The narrator may be more capable of sight than the blind man, but he knows nothing of the descriptive illustration of life. It is through the blind mans probing of the narrator, that he finally discovers how closed off and shielded he has been. We can see a revelation in the narrator, and a transformation in his mindset.…
Civilizations have evolved and prospered throughout history, producing unique buildings and architectural styles along the way. The buildings are expressed as society’s values and unique characteristics that are simply astonishing. Medieval cathedrals were the product of more than a 1000 years of both religion and architectural evolution. Medieval cathedrals played a major role in Christian heritage, the gothic and architecture. The medieval period, with its boundless faith and energetic spirit, found an ultimate expression in the cathedral…
The narrator is very skeptical of Robert the blind man because he doesn’t understand how someone would want to continue to live even though you can’t see. He states “And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies.” The narrator is making prejudgments of the blind man based off what he has seen in movies. This leads me to believe that he is a closed minded man and doesn’t want to try to understand Roberts’s life because he thinks he already has a good grasp on it based on the movie. “For a man who can see, the narrator in “Cathedral” says little about what he sees.”(“Raymond Carver Essay on Cathedral." By Drew Woodson. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.). Woodson is talking about how the narrator conducts his life, by not describing what he sees means he takes it for granted and doesn’t understand. He also asks if Roberts’s wife was a “Negro” because her name was Beulah. This adds to the assumptions that the narrator is intolerable to people that are not like him. “Negro” is a hateful word that is only used to describe a black person in a condescending way. He also makes a generalization by assuming that Roberts wife is black because of her name. The narrator goes on to state “the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing eye dogs.” These are the assumptions he has in his head because…
While Robert tells Bub that “you didn’t think you could [draw the cathedral]” (Carver 103), in reality, he is not talking about drawing a cathedral. He is telling the reader that Bub does not think that he can open up to the world, specifically the spiritual world. But this will all change because Bub is transitioning from being materialistic and intolerant to becoming more welcoming in all aspects of life and less focused on the physical. When drawing the cathedral, Robert tells Bub to “put some people in there. What’s a cathedral without people” (Carver 103). Robert is trying to force Bub to look from a different perspective, the inside. Although it may seem like it is just a detail for the drawing, the people that Robert asks Bub to draw represent happiness and they are quite literally, people. The cathedral that they are drawing is not only a building now, but it is a symbol for where they can find comfort and happiness. While Bub is focusing on the empty structure and the outside of the cathedral, it is also a metaphor for the emptiness of Bub’s life until he opens his mind to other experiences, specifically spiritual…
The narrator is shown to be a man who is envious of his wife’s first husband, jealous of her bond with the blind man and who smokes marijuana daily. The narrator’s use of a narrative point of view helps give the readers an inside of his personal thoughts about the blind man, Robert. Stereotypes and intimidations are constantly present with the narrators thought’s such as “they move slow, use canes, wear dark glasses, never laugh, and use seeing-eyedogs.” This helps demonstrate the view the narrator has towards the blind. Further into the story the narrator’s thoughts take a dramatic enlightening turn with the use of a cathedral, it serves as a way to grasp the narrator and show him to “see” things in a different prospective.…