Blindness can manifest itself in many ways. Arguably the most detrimental form of this condition may be the figurative blindness of ones own situations and ignorance towards the feelings of others. In Raymond Carver ’s short story "Cathedral‚" the narrator ’s emotional and psychological blindness is immediately apparent. The many issues faced by the narrator as well as the turn-around experienced at the culmination of the tale are the main ideas for the theme of this story; and these ideas aid the
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Raymond Carvers Cathedral illustrates the point of view of a self-centered man‚ the narrator‚ who suffers from a mild lack of education and culture while being more than slightly close-minded and rude. These are observations that one can make by considering how he reacts to his wifes blind friend‚ Robert coming over at their house as well as by his perceptions of the blind man. The fact that the main character is also narrating helps as well when trying to capture his nature since we have access
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I fear this essay may come off a bit choppy due to the fact that while reading “The Cathedral” by Raymond Carver I had a lot of different questions and thoughts running through my head. The first thing I noticed was that the narrator never really uses names and that confused me. Making the story difficult to navigate and raising the question‚ why leave character names a mystery until later? What purpose does it serve? We never learn the names of the narrator‚ the wife or the officer‚ most of the
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Realism and Minimalism comparing “Cathedral” and Summer Interior Both Raymond Carver and Edward Hopper show qualities of realism and minimalism in the short story “Cathedral” by Carver and in the painting Summer Interior‚ 1909 by Hopper. The moods and characters relate to both the short story and the painting. Dirty-realism was shown in the short story by Carver he shows disappointment and truths that the character’s face. Realism is different in art Hopper showed accurate‚ detailed‚ unembellished
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In the story "Cathedral" written by Raymond Carver‚ it seems that stereotypes of the blind form barriers between the blind and the sighted. The man in the story has always had misconceptions of the blind which "came from the movies" (Carver 1). The title‚ "Cathedral"‚ is significant because it helps the man envision the life of Robert. As Robert‚ the blind man‚ entered his life‚ it was hard for the man to form any bond with Robert due to his visual impairment. The man even created a picture in his
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Reflection on Cathedral In a short story named Cathedral by Raymond Carver‚ he discusses about an unnamed man who is doubtful to his wife’s blind friend named Robert‚ he used to be the boss of her. One day he came to stay at their house because he was invited by the wife‚ and the wife invited him because he lost his wife and she wanted him to spend some time with them. The husband was feeling so uncomfortable because of the visit of Robert. The husband met the blind man‚ and he was acting in an
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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
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“Cathedral” by Raymond Carver is set in 1983 in the narrator’s house somewhere In New York. The story starts with the narrator telling us about his wife’s old friend that was blind. The narrator tells us about how the blind man’s wife had died. The blind man then contacted the narrator’s wife. Arrangements were made and then the blind man was coming to spend the night at the narrators house. He would come to New York from his in laws in Connecticut by a 5-hour train ride. The blind and the wife always
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so blind people have to cope to become part of society. They have to depend on their other senses to be able to explore the world around them. However‚ the good thing is that they learn to use their other senses better than other people do. Cathedral‚ by Raymond Carver‚ is set in an early stage when the industry is switching from black and white to colored television. The story took place in Narrator’s house when his wife invited an old friend to visit their home for one night. The wife’s old friend
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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
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