The Narrator In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

This story is about how the narrator is unable to see what life is really giving him and finds it through a blind man’s eyes, the friend of his wife. Cathedral is a touching story, in my opinion, as it reflects on what many of us, society, take for granted. It shows how important it is to give people a

"Cathedral" is a short story ultimately about enlightment, finding something more meaningful and deeper with in one self. Although from an observing point of view nothing more in the story happens then a blind man assisting the narrator in drawing a cathedral. Although as known, the narrator's experience radically differs from what is actually "observed". He is enlightened and opened up to a new world of vision and imagination. This brief experience will have a life long effect on him. The reason for this strong and positive effect is not so much the relationship made between the blind man and the narrator or even the actual events leading up to this experience, but rather it is mostly due to what was drawn by the narrator.

The use of diction also aids in the exploration of the religious theme. Carver’s choice to use the word cathedral is a religious word that connects the two men. As discussed in his article High Visibility, author Peter Middleton discusses the importance of the story using a cathedral to draw the two men closer to one another. He states that “… [the cathedral] is not there simply to be see,” meaning that there is more to the cathedral than just what is seen. In Catholicism, cathedrals are very ornate places of worship, yet the beauty of the building is not what is most important. The functional use of a cathedral is to bring people together through prayer and worship. Similarly, the cathedral on the television in the story brings the two men together and breaks down the barriers between them. Only the narrator is able to see and appreciate the beauty of the cathedral but both men are able to gain an understanding and appreciation of each other by drawing the cathedral.

Carver’s story “Cathedral” opens with this blind man, coming to visit the narrator’s wife friend of ten years. It takes place in the narrator's home; he is on his way to spend the night. However,

You can never seem to know what’s going on in another one’s life, until you put yourself in their shoes. Therefore, to judge, is simply ignorance. “Cathedral,” by Raymond Carver is a story that depicts the process of transforming an individual from an unfamiliar, ignorant being into an educated soul. According to Joseph Campbell’s definition, the narrator in “Cathedral,” can be seen as an anti-hero. He is an inglorious character who is particularly jealous and close-minded toward a blind man. Despite showing negative characteristics, provoking insecurities, and living in a destructive way, he eventually overcomes his ego that separates him from the rest of the world.

“Cathedral” is a short story written by Raymond Carver, published in 1981. The story is told in the first-person by a man referred to as “Bub.” Bub lives with his wife, who remains unnamed. The premise to the plot of the story is that Robert, a blind man who is friends with Bub’s wife, is coming to visit Bub’s home after his own wife dies. The reader follows Bub’s perspective throughout the experience and is privy to his thoughts and commentary. According to Carver, “Cathedral” differs from his other stories. Carver describes this difference in Fires, “[It] was totally different in conception and execution from any stories that [had] come before. There was an opening up when I wrote the story. I knew I’d gone as far the other way as I could or wanted to go, cutting everything down to the marrow, not just to the bone. Any farther in that direction and I’d be at a dead end” (204). A critic writes, “Carver's figures seal themselves off from their worlds, walling out the threatening forces in their lives even as they wall themselves in, retreating destructively into the claustrophobic inner enclosures of self. In Cathedral, and in Cathedral only, we witness the rare moments of their comings out, a process of opening up in closed-down lives” (Nesset 166). This moment of coming out occurs at the end of the story, and is representative of the culmination of Bub’s development process, which is personal enlightenment. In “Cathedral,” Carver includes five key ideas which convey the message that by focusing on and dealing with problems, reserving judgement, breaking stereotypes, and being open-minded, a person may find themselves confronted with the opportunity of being enlightened, which in Bub’s case, was the experience of a perspective change.

Lives are diverse. Every being that passes by on the street, at school, at work, anywhere lives a completely unique life different from any other individual. Each person that one could meet has attended different schools, travelled to different places, and lived under 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 life does not come easy because of his inherent arrogance and prejudice. Nevertheless, the blind man remains polite and shows the narrator how similar, yet still different their lives are through example as well as an explicit exercise where he holds the narrator’s hands while he draws a cathedral in order to “see” what the cathedral looks like. To assist the reader in fully grasping the impact of this breakthrough in the narrator’s life regarding perspective and various types of human realities, Carver employs a large number of stylistic elements to enhance his writing.

Cathedral shows the development of a narrator who has been placed in what seems, at first to be an awkward situation which ends up, instead, being a moment of true revelation. Carver depicts the story in a rather strident tone, making the narrator, appear as the antihero, though some may view his character as somewhat humorous, and straightforward, his tone is initially very harsh and ignorant. Carver said himself that the narrator albeit having many prejudices against blind people, he changes; he grows out of those narrow minded ways. The story follows the lives of three main characters; the narrator who lacks a name, his wife and his wife’s blind friend, Robert. The narrator is initially openly critical and uneducated towards the blind man and his perception of the world, but towards the end of the story we see him becoming more accepting of the man whom he once saw as strange and even “pathetic” for not ever having seen his wife who died of cancer, he says,

People are always put in situations that they do not necessarily know how to handle. The narrator, in “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver has personally never been around anyone who was blind until his wife introduces him her lifelong blind friend. Being inexperienced can make someone uncomfortable, which can be taken as being judgemental. As the story progresses, the narrator transitions from being uncomfortable to having a better understanding of the blind man and his life. The narrator is not judgemental of the blind man, but is someone who is uncomfortable, and is experiencing this situation for the first time.

This shows how the narrator was about his knowledge of cathedrals and when the blind man asks

The narrator in Raymond Carver’s "Cathedral" is not a particularly sensitive man. I might describe him as self-centered, superficial, and egotistical. And while his actions certainly speak to these points, it is his misunderstanding of the people and the relationships presented to him in this story which show most clearly his tragic flaw: while Robert is physically blind, it is the narrator who cannot clearly see the world around him.

In “Cathedral,” Raymond Carver exhibit the different conflicts between the narrator and Robert the blind man. Raymond Carver show man vs. self, and man vs. man.

Raymond Carver’s short-story Cathedral is outwardly about a pessimistic man, whose wife’s blind visitor named Robert changes the narrators predisposing perception of the world and awakes a new view on life in the process. But inwardly, the story is about the desperate need for connection between these three characters, which isn’t feasible do to the emotional-detachment by the narrator. In the beginning, the narrator is hindered by his prejudices which doesn 't allow him connect to anything greater than himself. But with the help of the blind man who is able to see the greater truth, since he’s incapable of having his perception distorted based on outer appearance; allows him to teach the narrator the difference between looking and seeing. Carver is proclaiming that when we open ourselves to new ways of connecting with others, and new ways of viewing at the world, we can have hugely rewarding experiences.

In his short story “Cathedral” Raymond Carver uses a unnamed narrator to tell his story in a first person point of view. Other than his name we get to know that he has a wife who's blind friend's, Robert, wife just passed away and he is visiting her family in Connecticut. During Roberts stay in Connecticut he will be staying at their house. While the man was able to see perfectly from his eyes he wasn't able to see his surroundings and others feelings. On the other hand Robert was lacking eye sight but was able to understand people very well. The narrator feels bad for Robert because he has never seen his wife, but the truth is he saw and understood her in his own way. Sometimes we can see someone but can't really see what they are feeling or trying to say.

In the short story “Cathedral” by Reymond Carver, the narrator has a closed mindset about life. He has made up his own world where he only looks and not sees what is behind everything. The narrator wife worked for a blind man who lost his wife years back, she had developed a friendship with the blind man, but the narrator does not enjoy this friendship. She invited the blind man over the house, maybe Robert will change the narrator point of view.