Comparing Cathedral And The Students Wife By Raymond Carver

Everyone likes different authors because every author has their own unique ways of writing. In reading the short stories “Cathedral” and “The Students Wife” written by Raymond Carver, readers notice some of the many similarities in his writing style. Carver is able to establish his style with the use of imagery and mood.
Carver’s stories contain various forms of figurative language which add to his style. In said stories, one of the ways that Carver is able to develop his style is with imagery. In “Cathedral” Carver writes, “This blind man [Robert] was late forties, a heavy-set, balding man with stooped shoulders, as if he carried a great weight there. He wore brown slacks, brown shoes, a light-brown shirt, a tie, a sports coat. Spiffy. He also had this full

But he didn’t use a cane and he didn’t wear dark glasses”(“Cathedral” 206). Carver creates an image of what the blind man looks like, which gives readers a better understanding of the character. In the way he describes Robert, Carver is able to go against the reader's assumptions, that he will have a cane and glasses. Blind people have a stereotype of always having a cane and sunglasses, but not in this case. Carver is able to keep the readers guessing on what he is going to do next with his stories, keeping them interesting. He is also able to show his use of imagery in “The Student’s Wife” in a little bit of a different situation, but still adds to the story. On page 202 in “The Student’s Wife” Carver states, “He was knotted up in the center of the bed, the covers bunched over his shoulders, his head half under the pillow. He looked desperate in his heavy sleep, his arms flung out across