Character Analysis in Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral”: The Narrator Literature has the potential to act as a mirror by presenting people’s lived experiences, expectations, and perceptions through characters. Such is what can be deciphered through the analysis of different characters in Raymond Carver’s story “Cathedral.” This paper focuses on the narrator of the story portrayed by the author as blind, which is used metaphorically not to imply physical blindness, but the inability to have reasoned
different circumstances; they all pass by in an instant without a second thought or even a passing glance. These several diverse experiences sculpt diverse individuals with diverse thoughts, opinions, dreams, and motives. However, in Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral,” the narrator must converse with an individual that lives an extremely dissimilar life from his own. A blind man, friends with the narrator’s wife and a recent widower, has come to live with the narrator for a while. This sudden change in the narrator’s
In Raymond Carver's story “Cathedral” the main character happens to be the narrator, he lives with his wife, and is a genuine introvert, and self centered person. His wife has invited her best friend Robert, who happens to be blind, to come stay the night in their house while he is traveling to see his in-laws due to his wife's death. Being the type of person Robert is he wants to show “Bub” how being different is not a negative thing. It is time for the narrator to undergo a remarkable transformation
The short story “Cathedral” is written by Raymond Carver. It is being narrated by a man whose wife invited an old friend and person she used to work for to come visit due to his wife dying. The old friend is a blind man whose name is Robert. The author in the “Cathedral” uses symbolism, imagery, and irony to provide more meaning to the story. The narrator of the story has a stereotypical opinion on blind people while being blind to his own imperfections, but he is able to start seeing
Hannah Artille November 22, 2016 Words: When Three Stories Collide There are three short stories with characters who are very alike. In the short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, the protagonist, Bub, has an unwanted visitor. Similarly, in the story “Everyday use” by Alice Walker, the character Dee visits her mother and sister, which turns into a very unpleasant encounter. Lastly, the main character, Hulga, in “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor, is deceived by her visitor, a bible
Through the Eyes of the Blind in Cathedral by Raymond Carver You can never seem to know what's going on in another ones life, unless you put your feet in there shoes, so to judge, is simply ignorance. Raymond Carver's "Cathedral" is a story about how the narrator is uncomfortable with having his wife's blind friend, Robert, over. Roger has lost his wife, and to cope with her death, he planned to visit the narrator's wife. Without any knowledge whatsoever on how to act in accompany towards
in Raymond Carver’s Cathedral. He highlights how perception can affect the way people interact and communicate with each other for the first time. In the short story, the narrator himself is blind to the emotions of the people around him and eschews any form of self-reflection until the very end. He is envious of the blind man, who shares an intimate relationship with the narrator’s wife. However, the blind man is depicted as insightful and personal. Carver discloses in Cathedral that Robert, the blind
The short story, Cathedral, by Raymond Carver, and the oil painting from 1952, Morning Sun, by Edward Hopper, are connected to one another through minimalism, realism, and point of view. Minimalism is a style or technique that is characterized by extreme sparseness and simplicity. Characteristics of minimalism include shorter sentences, little action, no background information, and no resolution. “A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (209). Here, Carver introduces the problem
The narrator “stared hard at the shot of the cathedral on the TV. How could I even begin to describe it? But say my life depended on it. Say my life was being threatened by an insane guy who said I had to do it or else” (Carver 36). The narrator describes the event before just fine, with the skeletons and people dressed as the devil, but he struggles with the cathedral. It was unobtainable for him to do it, he was speechless. This is key because the narrator says he couldn't even do it if his life
In “The Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, a man named Robert is coming to spend the night at the narrator’s house. Robert is a friend of the narrator’s wife who happens to be blind, which doesn’t sit well with the narrator. Robert and his wife have a ten year relationship which started with her working for him. Since then they’ve stayed in contact by sending audiotapes to each other. When Robert reaches the house, the narrator is a bit uncomfortable. The first reason being because the man is blind, and