Cathedral Analysis

Summary~

The short story, “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, is a story about a husband, a wife and a blind man. The Narrator who is the husband begins the story by telling us that his wife’s blind friend, whose wife has just died, is going to spend the night at their house. He starts telling us that he isn’t happy about this visitor and the man’s blindness unsettles him, he explains that his wife met the blind man ten years ago when she worked for him as a reader to the blind in Seattle. He says that on the last day of her job there, the blind man touched her face and she wrote a poem about the experience over the years she and the blind man kept in touch by sending tapes back and forth to each other throughout her marriage, and she told everything to the blind man on tapes. The narrator then tells us about his wife’s past, she married her childhood sweetheart and became an officer’s wife, she was unhappy with her life, and tried to commit suicide one night by swallowing pills, but she survived. Once Robert comes it’s a little awkward, the wife is all happy and laughing with him, while the husband is not happy because Robert is blind and he doesn’t act or look like the way he thought. They ate dinner then went to the living room to watch TV, the wife went upstairs for a long time it was just Robert and the Narrator. The Narrator offered Robert some weed, and they got high, that’s when the wife came back and also got high. The wife fell asleep almost immediately, Robert and the Narrator sat watching TV and after a while the program stopped talking and was just showing images, which made the Narrator uncomfortable so he started explaining what was happening on screen. A cathedral came on, Robert never saw one so the Narrator started describing one to him. He was having a hard time so Robert asked him to find some paper and a pen. He made the Narrator draw a cathedral with his eyes closed as he had his hand on the Narrator’s hand, once he finished he didn’t want to open his eyes, he thought he out to keep them closed for a little longer.

Character Analysis~

The character I have chosen is the Narrator. A couple of things that stood out to me throughout the story about him was his relationship with his wife and his arrogance toward Robert. Throughout the story I noticed he and his wife didn’t have the loving relationship we all expect from a married couple, the type we see in the movies and little girls dream of. They always seemed displeased with each other, angry at what the other had to say, “”Are you crazy?” my wife said. “Have you flipped or something?” She picked up a potato. I saw it hit the floor, then roll under the stove. “What’s wrong with you?” she said. “Are you drunk?”” (437). The reason his wife reacted this way was because he asked if The Blind man’s wife was a Negro, on both parts we can see how they seem to just bite at each other, first off it is very obvious from the beginning of the story how important Robert is to the wife, so the comment would surely upset her. On the other hand the husband was relatively confused, he didn’t know much about the background of Robert’s wife and genuinely thought her name sounded like one of a colored woman. Many times throughout the story the wife and the Narrator have such disputes that could be avoided if they attempted to understand each other. Right from the beginning the Narrator had a dislike toward the Blind man, I can only predict why because no real reason was said, but he seems to be jealous of the relationship between Robert and his wife, even the way she seems to like Robert more, “My wife finally took her eyes off the blind man and looked at me. I had the feeling she didn’t like what she saw. I shrugged” (439). In the story the Narrator believed many stereotypes about blind people, so when Robert was around it was hard for him to get past that, and throughout the story he really got on his nerve. However, toward the end when Robert asked the Narrator to explain what a Cathedral looked like, he had a very hard time explaining it, “”I’m not doing so good, am I?” I said” (444). In this quote we see the Narrator actually trying, he starts changing, starts actually talking with the blind man and I believe even sympathizing for him during their bonding moment when the Narrator closes his eyes an draws a cathedral for Robert. Carver states, “So we kept on with it. His fingers rode my fingers as my hand went over the paper. It was like nothing else in my life up to now” (445). This quote is very important, because it is a changing point in the Narrator, this is where he takes a 180 degree turn. In the last view lines of the story he seems so kind and compassionate, like he really starts caring for Robert, he begins to understand him.

Response~

This character makes me think about people I have encountered personally in my life that have the same altitude and negativity. I usually try to stay away from these type of people, but sadly they exist in today’s society. I think of myself as someone who is positive, kind, caring and compassionate toward others’ feelings and I truly don’t find it difficult to be considerate of others, yet people who are like the Narrator really upset me because on the contrary being rude is difficult, you really have to try. I think the author included this character in their story because this is not something unfamiliar to us, it’s definitely relevant today. When I was reading the story I was honestly uncomfortable, when a person has such an altitude toward someone they are suppose to love, toward someone they are to respect, it makes me wonder do they really respect and love them? A question that I kept asking myself throughout the story, was does the Narrator really want to be in the relationship he is? Does he really love his wife? Is there another reason he is marries, maybe he was raised in a culture that pressured him to get married?