‘cathedral character analysis
Raymond carvers, in his book ‘cathedral,’ the narrators appeared to be at loggerheads with his wife’s guest, who was a blind man by the name Robert. In the book, he shares the relation and his experience with his wife and Robert. The blind man is bereaved, having lost his wife, and on his way to his in-laws, he called narrators wife so that they meet at the train station. The narrator is not at peace with Mr. Robert meeting his wife. He feels insecure about the meeting based on the fact that the blind man is now a widower. In the different instances in the story, it appears how the narrators alter his angle of perception on understanding what to become of him. He seems to be judgmental and having a feeling of jealousy in the beginning, but later, he was surprised when the bland man become inspirational to him. There are issues the narrator faces towards his actions and emotions, which shows insecurity and discomfort about the blind man before. Nasset (1994)
First, in the begging, the narrator passes judgment on the blind man’s physical appearance, yet he doesn’t know him. His wife discusses Robert on how she used to live with him before and took care of him. She then went ahead to talk about his blindness; the narrator became uncomfortable when the wife said, ‘His blindness bothered me’ Carver (2915). Robert, a blind man, walks into the narrator’s house. When he was walking in, the narrator instantly judged Robert’s disability. The narrator immediately developed a mind of stereotyping blind people. It was evident realized when he uttered ”in the films, people who are blind, make slow movements, and they never laugh”, he further went ahead and made a comment that they are being led by Seeing Eye dogs. Carver (1991). This shows how the narrator instantly becomes stereotypical and judgmental in his book, ‘Cathedral.”
The narrator is also very skeptical about the blind man’s visit. Contrary to being happy having received a guest who is a friend to his wife, he seems very unhappy. He boldly expressed this by saying ”I was not happy about his visit”. Carver (1992). As he stared closer to Robert, he commences by describing the blinds man’s appearance by saying how his eyes look like. He starts to fidget and feel weird about how the blind man’s eyes were different from each other. He went further and says. ”a lot of white on his iris for a single thing, and the pupil balls appear to roll without him having control over it’’. The childish behavior of the narrator makes the blind man feel not welcomed even though they don’t know each other and have only met for a few minutes with the narrator. He has regarded Robert as a label instead of viewing him as a normal human being like others. As the narrator continues, he becomes jealous of his wife for being so close to his wife. He now takes Robert as a threat to his marriage when his wife and the blind guest talk and laugh for a long time. Though he could not get into their conversation, he says ‘I listened to most of the part”, Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Despite the fact of how he felt about Robert, the narrator was inspired because he realizes how a blind man views the world. He understands the reason why his wife had great contact with him. First, he begins to feel sorry for him having lost his wife. This is clearly shown when he says, ”imagine a woman who never considers herself the way she was viewed in the eyes of beloved one” A woman who could go for long without a single compliment from her loved ones. Carver (1991). Later has he watch the Television while Robert is only listening to whatever is going on, the only program on Television is on the cathedral? The narrator is amazed if the blind man knows what cathedral means. The narrator asks the blind man whether he can be able to tell what cathedral means or tell what they are talking about.
The narrator describes what cathedral means, and this appeared to be the point when the blind guest and the narrator were coming to terms with each other company. They seemed to be enjoying the privilege of having each other around.
After asking the narrator to close his eyes, there is a sudden change in him as they proceed with their drawing. The narrator’s experience is becoming fantastic, and he expressed when he said,” my eyes were closed. I was in my home, but never felt like I was inside a house’’ Carver (1991)
The narrator’s behavior went beyond the expectation of his wife; he now understands what it feels to be blind. This story tells us not to be quick in judging people. The people who we intend to despise and judge sometimes turn out to be extraordinary people who can surprise us unexpectedly. Our mind is the critical part, and it influences us on how we see things. It’s astonishing how a blind man can be able to see much clear then the narrator, who has all his sight. As people are always quick to judge others, they tend to be blinded by the naked eye. I realize that giving people a chance to express themselves, we can recognize they are not what we may have thought they are.