In Cathedral, a man's wife extends an invitation to Robert, a blind acquaintance, to see her. The storyteller believes Robert's blindness to be his primary characteristic. The narrator is disturbed by Robert's arrival at the start of the tale, but he cannot explain why. He then makes the decision to blame Robert's condition for his problems. And his being blind bothered me, he confesses. Blindness was something I had only seen in movies. The blind in the movies were slow-moving and never smiled. They occasionally followed seeing-eye canines. I did not look forward to having a blind guy in my home. From this admission the reader gets to understand how close-minded the narrator is and how much rigid he is towards experiencing new things (Carver 209).The wife of Robert, Beulah, had just died of cancer and the narrator feels quite uneasy that Robert might spend the night in their house. He sympathizes with Beulah, saying that her husband could never look at her. He says, “And then I found myself thinking what a pitiful life this woman must have led. Imagine a woman who could never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one. A woman who could go on day after day and never receive the smallest compliment from her beloved” (Carver 237). The narrator does not know just how devoted the couple was to each other.
His wife picks Robert from the train station and they all laugh happily into the house before she introduces the blind man to his husband (Gale, Cengage Learning 3). The narrator reveals that he has never known any blind person. He describes the appearance of Robert and his dress code as well. He finds it rather strange that unlike other blind men, Robert does not wear dark glasses. He is of the idea that Robert should wear dark glasses due to the weird look and strange turn of Robert’s eyes. He also finds out that the blind man smokes so many cigarettes, something that he did not know blind people do. Robert and the narrator’s wife catch up on the happenings in their lives for the past decade. The narrator barely tries to join in their conversation. He can only offer brief responses to questions addressed to him by the blind man. When the narrator finally turns on the television, his wife feels irritated.
The blind man stays up late with the narrator as he watches a program on television. When the TV moderators show cathedrals from different parts of the world on screen and talks about them, the narrator inquires from Robert if he knows what cathedrals look like. Robert confirms to him that he has no idea and requests the narrator to describe for him what they are. He tries to describe them but does not seem to make any progress with his description (Gale, Cengage Learning3). The narrator says, “I stared hard at 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.” He has no idea on how to describe a cathedral for Robert. When Robert asks him whether he is religions, he tells the blind man that he does not have any belief in anything and cites this as the reason why he is unable to describe cathedral, just because they really mean nothing to him (Gale, Cengage Learning 3).
The blind man makes a request for the narrator to some materials for drawing. After he gets these items, they both sit around and table where the blind man then requests the narrator to draw for him the cathedral. While the narrator draws, he follows the movement of the pen by putting his hand over that of the narrator (Gale, Cengage Learning 3). While this goes on, the narrator’s wife wakes up from the couch where she had slept off. She inquires what they are doing and Robert informs her that they were drawing a cathedral. Before the narrator finishes the drawing, the blind man challenges him to close his eyes and proceed with the drawing. He agrees to this, closes his eyes, and continues with the drawing. When Robert later asks him to open the eyes so that he could see what he had drawn, the narrator refuses. While the narrator rightly knows that, he is in his home, a feeling sweeps over him that he feels like he is nowhere. With the eyes closed, the narrator believes that the drawing is “really something” (Carver 141).
The story is written in the first person. The narrator majorly describes his life experience and the importance that it had on him. He leads the reader through the transformation that he has undergone in a single evening. He also uses a great amount humor in the story. However, some people may find his sense of humor quite offensive, for instance, the jokes he makes about blind men. More often, his jokes take an ugly turn. When he talks about how much he pities Robert’s wife, the readers may not like his sentiments.
The technique that the narrator applies is known as dramatic irony, where the reader seems to have more knowledge on an issue than the character does. In his comment, he objectifies Beulah, treats her like she is just an object that has no value without the appreciation of her husband (Bethea 210). While the narrator appears too offensive in his words, the story itself is not offensive. Despite being treated as a lesser person by the narrator, when he speaks, Robert is much like the other characters or even better. The story is a pro-blind-people and suggests that the concept of eyesight is overrated.
Setting
The story Cathedral is written about the time that the transition from black and white television to colored television was picking momentum (Bendixen 133). It was also a time when cassette tapes were a new technology. The story is set in a middle-class home located in New York and is told over just one evening (Runyon 137). Routine, monotony and limited vision are the chains from which the narrator is finally set free.
Characters
The Narrator
The narrator is an unnamed person who talks about the experience he has with the blind man. He is married to a woman who had divorced her first husband. His wife confides in Robert, a blind man for advice. However, the narrator feels uneasy about it and thinks that Robert is having some secret relationship with his wife. He finds out at the end that this is not the case when he is able to see clearly.
Lacks Insight and Self-Awareness
While he is not physically blind, the narrator of the cathedral displays an absence of insight and awareness of one’s self. These traits portray him as blinder than Robert. The narrator, unlike the blind man, has his eyes and is able to see perfectly. Yet he cannot understand the thoughts of people and their inward feelings. From his conversation with his wife, he pities Robert’s late wife since the blind man could not be able to look at her. He fails to understand that the blind man saw his wife in a non-physical way; he was able to understand his wife intimately.
Similarly, the narrator is unable to describe what a cathedral is to the blind man despite his ability to see it on television. The difficulty is because the narrator cannot see the deeper significance of the cathedral.
Jealous and Petty
When the narrator’s wife comes home from the train station with her blind old friend, the narrator fails to welcome them home. Instead, he sees the blind man as part of his wife’s past. He does not know the significant role played by Robert to stop his wife from committing after her divorce. He is also jealous of her wife’s ex-husband. Because of jealousy, he keeps making comments that are intended at annoying the wife. This makes his wife angry and sometimes she reacts angrily. The narrator recalls one moment when the wife reacted, “Are you crazy? Have you flopped or something?” (Carver 245). It only shows how the reality of the narrator has been damaged by jealousy, poor communication with his wife, and feeling insecure.
Insensitive
The narrator does not know his wife well despite being able to see her physically. Unlike Robert who could not be able to see his wife physically, the narrator can recognize his wife on sight yet he cannot connect to his wife intimately.
Robert
Robert plays the role of the blind man. He pays a visit to the narrator’s family after he loses his wife, Beulah, to cancer.
Insightful and Compassionate
Robert takes his time to pay close attention to the problems of other people. This trait enables him to see people better than he would see them if he had his eyes. Through the audio tapes, he has been attentively listening to the narrator’s wife for around a decade. The narrator’s wife had recorded the difficulties she faced in her past and sent them to Robert. After listening, Robert sends responses that are able to play an important role in her life. Whenever the narrator’s wife needed help, she only turned to Robert.
Good Listener
From the audiotape communication, it becomes clear of the good listening habit that Robert displays. For ten years, he has been able to listen and respond to the audiotapes that the narrator’s wife sends him. That his responses are not revealed only mean that it was more important to listen to the tapes than to give responses.
The Narrator’s Wife
Welcoming
She warmly receives the blind man into her home after picking him from the train station. She laughs with him all the way as they come home. After they arrive home, she warmly engages Robert as they catch up on their past ten years.
Escapist
When she felt unhappy in her previous marriage, she attempts to kill herself instead of staying strong and facing the situation. It takes the intervention of the blind man to stop her from committing suicide.
Themes
Looking vs. Seeing
As brought out in the fiction Cathedral, the act of looking is simply associated with having physical vision. On the other hand, seeing requires someone to engage deeply with the event or object in question. It is clear that the narrator is capable of looking. It is shown when he looks at his home and wife. When Robert arrives, the narrator looks at him too. Just because the narrator has eyesight, he believes that he is more superior compared to Robert. According to the narrator, having the ability to see means everything. He, therefore, does not put any effort to try to see things past the surface. This is the main reason why he does not even know his wife.
On the contrary, while Robert does not have his sight, he is able to see things more deeply than the narrator is. He is able to understand the narrator’s wife deeply despite not being able to see her physically, something that her husband does not. His deep understanding is facilitated by his good listening habit.
Art and Insight
All the three characters are able to find deep meaning in their experiences with poetry, in telling their stories and in drawing. The narrator’s wife is a poet and her poems remind her of her life events. When he draws a picture of the cathedral, the narrator is able to acquire insight into his life. For the first time, he finds out the important need to look inwards. The narrator recalls, “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. My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn't feel like I was inside anything.” From this, we are able to understand the reality that hits the narrator and how he shifts from the confines of his closed mindedness towards freedom (Carver 228).
Symbolism
The Cathedral
The drawing that the narrator and Robert makes is a representation of true insight and presents the narrator with the ability to see beyond that which lies on the surface(Fallon 102). At the time before he draws the cathedral, the world of the narrator looks rather simple. Between him and Robert, one person can see while the other cannot see. However, after he draws the cathedral, he gains more insight. When he is through with the drawing, the eyes of the narrator remain closed but his vision gets clearer than before.
Audiotapes
For ten years, it is revealed that the narrator’s wife and the blind man have been communicating using audiotapes (Gale, Cengage Learning 3). These audiotapes are a symbol of a deeper understanding and compassion that does not require insight. The relationship that exists between the narrator’s wife and Robert is beyond what the narrator thinks or understands.
Works Cited
Bendixen, Alfred, and James Nagel. A Companion to the American Short Story. Wiley , 2010.
Bethea, Arthur F. Technique and Sensibility in the Fiction and Poetry of Raymond Carver. New York: Routledge, 2001.
Carver, Raymond. Cathedral. Harvill Press, 1999.
Fallon, Erin,R.C. Feddersen, James Kurtzleben, Maurice A. Lee, Susan Rochette-Crawley. A Reader's Companion to the Short Story in English. New York : Toutledge, 2001.
Gale, Cengage Learning. A Study Guide for Raymond Carver's Cathedral. Farmington Hills: Gale, Cengage Learning, 1999.
Runyon, Randolph Paul. Reading Raymond Carver. New York : Syracuse University Press, 1992.
