At the beginning of Raymond Carver's "Cathedral," the narrator is presented as a callous, jealous man. He is uncomfortable with the thought of a blind man, who is very close to his wife, coming into his home. He is even more jealous of the relationship between the man and his wife. The blind man, and the narrator's wife have a connection spanning years. Robert is her confidant, an almost therapist she can share her deepest feelings with without judgement. Robert's responses are so highly valued that once the narrator's wife almost played Robert's opinion of him, but due to some distraction he was never able to hear what he thought. Although the narrator claims to not be worried about not knowing Robert's opinion of him I believe this is false due to the level of tension experienced once he arrives. The narrator does not know how to act with a blind man in his home, and his wife grows increasingly frustrated with him. "Finally, when I thought he was beginning to run down, I got up and turned on the TV. My wife looked at me with irritation. She was heading toward a boil." (38)
The narrator holds many stereotypes toward the blind man. He says, "I remember having read somewhere that the blind didn't smoke because, as speculation had it, they couldn't see the smoke they exhaled." (37). He is also disgusted by the appearance of the man's eyes and states another of his stereotypes. "I'd always thought dark glasses were a must for the blind. Fact was, I wished he had a pair. At first glance, his eyes looked like anyone else's eyes. But if you looked close, there was something different about them. Too much white in the iris and...the pupils seemed to move around in the sockets without his knowing...Creepy." (36)
It is not until the end of the story that we see the narrator and Robert connect by drawing the cathedral together. By partaking in this activity together, the narrator is able to let go of his predisposed notion of Robert. Robert is a vital figure to both the wife and the narrator in this story. For the wife, she is able to express all thoughts and feelings to him. For the narrator, Robert provides a glimpse to what his life is like for him allowing the narrator to overcome the stereotypes he held at the beginning of the story.
Words Cited:
Carver, Raymond. "Cathedral." The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th. Alison Booth, Kelly Mays. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2011. 32-44. Print.
Photos: http://gordonlisheditedthis.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/cathedral-raymond-carver/
http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/how-to-draw-cathedrals.htm
"Cathedral" does have many stereotypes presented in it. The narrator has an image in his mind about what Robert will be like but in reality Robert is the opposite. I agree on how he acts jealous about how close his wife and Robert are; it almost seems like they are closer than the narrator and his wife. I think the narrator is surprised in the end about everything he finds out about how Robert is different than what he presumed.
ReplyDeleteCathedral was my favorite of the short stories we read, and I'm glad to see you wrote about it as well. I really like the way you integrated support quotes into your response. I completely agree with the husband's amount of stereotyping and how his wife is ashamed of his ignorance and discomfort with the blind man. Your last line, "...a glimpse to what his life is like for him allowing the narrator to overcome the stereotypes.." is a solid conclusion to the analysis.
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