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Epiphany In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

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In Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” he writes a story about a husband's journey to his epiphany. Robert, a blind man, teaches the husband how to see without his eyes. Often a person with the ability to see takes this for granted, leaving them only to see what is on the outside rather than seeing people, and things for what they really are. In this short story, Carver conveys the narrators epiphany through the symbol of the cathedral. Carver develops a story with symbolism throughout his story, beginning with the first line, “This blind man, an old friend of my wife’s he was on his way to spend the night. His wife had died” (Carver 84). This shows his attitude towards blind people by pointing out that Robert is blind, and not just an “old friend of [his] wife’s” (Carver 84). Carver develops the two main characters to completely contrast one and other both physically, and psychologically. The narrator in the story represents a person who sees but cannot “see” and Robert as the character who can “see” but lacks the ability to see with his eyes.
The cathedral that the narrator draws with the blind man represents the ability to see beyond the surface of things, and find underlying deeper meanings to things. Before drawing with Robert the narrator was so close …show more content…

A literary symbol is usually defined as something to signify ideas and/or meaning by giving a symbolic meaning, contradicting or being different from the literal meaning. Usually these types of symbols are used to develop a more deep, and significant meaning. Just as a cathedral's literal meaning is to offer a place for the religious to worship, the narrator’s drawing of a cathedral has opened a door for him into a deeper place in his own world where he can see beyond what is immediately visible to him; Breaking free from the monotony of his every day life, and what he lacks to see and embrace because of

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