The Use Of Setting In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
The short story “Cathedral” is an intriguing piece of writing written by Raymond Carver. In this story, the author created a character, the narrator, as a person that lacked warmth or emotional involvement, even with his own wife. The blind man is portrayed as a human being with a love for life. He has a human connection towards the narrator’s wife whereby he fully understands her emotions and supports her needs. My essay will explore the use of setting in this short story. My thesis will focus on the use of location, time, and social conditions. Carver validates the theme of human connection and understanding using the three types of settings mentioned. The literary techniques captured in the short story are symbolism and setting. Stereotype is a symbol of ignorance and is demonstrated in the story when the narrator refers to the blind man as “someone
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with a seeing-eye dog. My idea of blindness came from the movies. A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to”(2). The setting takes place in New York, “How going to New York, you should sit on the right-hand side of the train” (4).
The author gives some indication that the story most probably takes place in the early 1980’s through the use of setting. “Blindness came from the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed” (2). The narrator is closed-minded. therefore he thinks of the blind man being a stereotypical blind man. The short story takes place over a single evening during the 80’s when colored TVs were quite popular in middle class homes. “My dear, I have two TV’s, a color set and a black-and-white thing. It’s funny, but if I turn on the TV, I turn on the color set” (5). Despite the narrator’s ignorance, the blind man demonstrates the human connection and understanding by doing things just like ordinary people would. He sets aside his physical blindness and limitations.
The primary location of this story is in the dining room and living room of the narrator’s home, somewhere in New York. This specific setting helps us to understand the lives of simple human beings. The narrator and his wife provide their guest with a basic dinner, which consists of meat, potatoes, green beans, bread and butter and a glass of milk. This is a middle class couple living a basic lifestyle. ““But let me ask you are you in any way religious? You don’t mind my asking?” “ I guess I don’t believe in it. In anything.” (7). “We got up from the table and took ourselves into the living room” (5). One may think that location is a basic one in that it captures the reader’s interest in demonstrating the minimal style of the narrator. Furthermore the narrator and his wife lead a simple life together and a routine one. There’s a human connection and understanding as the blind man becomes connected to the narrator.
The social conditions of the narrator demonstrate his poor relationship with his wife and others.
Carver shows us that the narrator is a closed-minded human being with a simple and boring personality. He is not open to other people’s beliefs as he’s an individualist. He is unreceptive to his wife’s pen-pal relationship with the blind man. He stereotypes Robert as he is physically blind, and he also makes racist remarks about Robert’s late wife Beulah. “That’s a name for a colored woman. Was his wife a Negro?” (3). The narrator is an unspiritual individual. “I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me” (2). The narrator had poor beliefs as he would believe that the blind man isn’t consider as a normal human being just because he was physically blind. “You’ll have to forgive me, but I can’t tell you what a cathedral looks lie. The truth is, cathedrals don’t mean anything special to me” (8). The social milieu conditions in the short story is extremely important because shows the importance the setting has on the theme of human connection and
understanding.
Carver captured the reader’s attention through three main settings: time, location, and social milieu. In the last sentence “I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything” (8), the narrator connected with the blind man. Through him, he was able to begin understanding his inner self and how important it is to connect with other human beings. The cathedral was symbolic in the sense that it represented the narrator’s home. The blind man used the cathedral as a symbol to connect the narrator with other human beings and his surroundings. Overall, without the setting, the short story would have little influence on the theme of human connection and understanding.
Work Cited
Carver, Raymond. “Cathedral”. Fiction: A Pocket Anthology, 7th ed. Ed. R.S. Gwynn. Boston: Penguin Academics, 2011.277-291
Short Stories
Essay Assignment No. 1
603-101-MQ- Effective Reading and Writing
October 4, 2012
with a seeing-eye dog. My idea of blindness came from the movies. A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to”(2). The setting takes place in New York, “How going to New York, you should sit on the right-hand side of the train” (4).
The author gives some indication that the story most probably takes place in the early 1980’s through the use of setting. “Blindness came from the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed” (2). The narrator is closed-minded. therefore he thinks of the blind man being a stereotypical blind man. The short story takes place over a single evening during the 80’s when colored TVs were quite popular in middle class homes. “My dear, I have two TV’s, a color set and a black-and-white thing. It’s funny, but if I turn on the TV, I turn on the color set” (5). Despite the narrator’s ignorance, the blind man demonstrates the human connection and understanding by doing things just like ordinary people would. He sets aside his physical blindness and limitations.
The primary location of this story is in the dining room and living room of the narrator’s home, somewhere in New York. This specific setting helps us to understand the lives of simple human beings. The narrator and his wife provide their guest with a basic dinner, which consists of meat, potatoes, green beans, bread and butter and a glass of milk. This is a middle class couple living a basic lifestyle. ““But let me ask you are you in any way religious? You don’t mind my asking?” “ I guess I don’t believe in it. In anything.” (7). “We got up from the table and took ourselves into the living room” (5). One may think that location is a basic one in that it captures the reader’s interest in demonstrating the minimal style of the narrator. Furthermore the narrator and his wife lead a simple life together and a routine one. There’s a human connection and understanding as the blind man becomes connected to the narrator.
The social conditions of the narrator demonstrate his poor relationship with his wife and others.
Carver shows us that the narrator is a closed-minded human being with a simple and boring personality. He is not open to other people’s beliefs as he’s an individualist. He is unreceptive to his wife’s pen-pal relationship with the blind man. He stereotypes Robert as he is physically blind, and he also makes racist remarks about Robert’s late wife Beulah. “That’s a name for a colored woman. Was his wife a Negro?” (3). The narrator is an unspiritual individual. “I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me” (2). The narrator had poor beliefs as he would believe that the blind man isn’t consider as a normal human being just because he was physically blind. “You’ll have to forgive me, but I can’t tell you what a cathedral looks lie. The truth is, cathedrals don’t mean anything special to me” (8). The social milieu conditions in the short story is extremely important because shows the importance the setting has on the theme of human connection and
understanding.
Carver captured the reader’s attention through three main settings: time, location, and social milieu. In the last sentence “I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything” (8), the narrator connected with the blind man. Through him, he was able to begin understanding his inner self and how important it is to connect with other human beings. The cathedral was symbolic in the sense that it represented the narrator’s home. The blind man used the cathedral as a symbol to connect the narrator with other human beings and his surroundings. Overall, without the setting, the short story would have little influence on the theme of human connection and understanding.
Work Cited
Carver, Raymond. “Cathedral”. Fiction: A Pocket Anthology, 7th ed. Ed. R.S. Gwynn. Boston: Penguin Academics, 2011.277-291
Short Stories
Essay Assignment No. 1
603-101-MQ- Effective Reading and Writing
October 4, 2012