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Comparing The Blind In Zz Packer And Raymond Carver's Cathedral

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People may tend to think they are compassionate and nonjudgmental when it comes to people's disabilities. However, everyone is judgmental in some way shape or form. Even people who don’t think are. Whether it’s a dirty look, mean comment, or fear of those with disabilities. What a majority of these able bodied people aren't aware of is their own personal invisible disabilities. Although neurotypical people perceive themselves as being fully capable, they are actually blind to their own impairment because they correlate themselves to disabled people. The short stories by ZZ Packer, J.D. Salinger, and Raymond Carver do an extraordinary job of expressing this problem in society. Even if people don’t experience a specific problem themselves, doesn’t mean that problem is nonexistent. ZZ Packer displays this in Brownies. This …show more content…

Raymond Carver projects this is his short story Cathedral. This story is about a husband, wife and a blind man named Robert. They two men become mutual friends through the wife. There is a bit of jealously throughout the story coming from the husband. He can not seem to figure out why his wife is so infatuated with Robert. Robert is blind for crying out loud, why would his wife like a blind man more than a fully capable man? It soon becomes obvious that the one blind is not Robert, but in fact the husband. Robert does the husband a favor and helps him see life in a more beautiful way through drawing. The husband states “My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything. “It’s really something.” (Carver 10). This proves how after the husband was blinded himself he truly saw something deeper and more meaningful than he had ever before. All from the help of the man who couldn’t even see himself. Even after getting help from others, able-bodied people are still unable to see through to their own

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The blind man whose name is Robert has also recently lost his wife. The narrator seems jealous of the relationship between Robert and his wife, he isn’t interested in speaking to him and only joins in their conversation out of a sense of jealousy. The narrator even thinks his wife has told the Robert everything about their relationship even though he can’t confirm it. When Robert initially comes to visit the narrator and his wife at their home he doesn’t have the most welcoming attitude but as the story progresses the narrator attitude towards Robert changes. The narrator alludes to “not knowing much about the blind besides what he saw in movies” (Carver in Gardner, Lawn, Ridl, & Schakel, 2013, p.302).

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Anger And Jealousy In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

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Each thought is rapidly flowing through his mind, and he cannot stop thinking about his wife being with the blind man, Robert. The language of the narrator depicts the emotion that he has frequently attempted to conceal from his wife. Furthermore, the excessive use of the word “she” demonstrates how the husband is upset over his wife’s action, not the blind man’s. The husband is not upset when Robert is with his wife, but he is enraged over the thought of his wife voluntarily hanging out with Robert. “She worked with this blind man all summer.”

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Compare And Contrast Cathedral And A Good Man Is Hard To Find

1375 Words | 6 Pages

The narrator placed himself in Robert’s shoes and realized how inaccurate his perception about Robert was. By sketching a Cathedral, they were drawing a piece of art that represents a collaboration closer to sight. By sharing an intimate experience, Robert the physically blind man was able to help the unnamed narrator, metaphorically blinded prejudice man see his errors in his conscious and see things

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Y Idea Of Blindness In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

1330 Words | 6 Pages

Before the narrator met the blind man he was judgmental and critical towards him. As the story continues, the tension, which is only found in the narrator’s head, starts to resolve as he sees more. It takes the narrator drawing a cathedral and putting himself in a blind man’s shoes to be able to have “sight”. The narrator becomes open-minded and looks at Robert in a new positive

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Raymond Carver Cathedral Summary

392 Words | 2 Pages

The Difference Between Looking And Seeing: What The Last Scene in Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” Really Means In the last scene of “Cathedral,” Robert shows the narrator another way to look at the world by asking him to close his eyes and change his perspective, both erasing the narrator’s previous stigma against blind people and giving the narrator a renewed sense of understanding. The narrator has full use of his eyes but doesn’t truly see the goodness in his two companions in the story, by, for example, dismissing his wife’s poetry. Though Robert is blind, he has a different type of sight, a sight that lets him emotionally connect to the narrator’s wife.

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Literary Devices In Cathedral By Raymond Carver

431 Words | 2 Pages

Too much white in the iris, for one thing, and the pupils seemed to move around in the sockets without his knowing it or being able to stop it” (Carver 216). This reveals preconceived notions that the narrator has about Robert; the narrator has expectations for how Robert would interact. As the story nears its end, the narrator finally “sees” when he draws the cathedral. This suggests that the narrator may be the one who cannot see the world around him.

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Ignorance And Preconceptions In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

448 Words | 2 Pages

The narrator’s eyes are closed and he is being led by a blind man, yet he is able to see. Carver never explains what it is the narrator sees, but there is the sense that he has found a connection and is no longer detached or isolated. The narrator is faced with a stark realization and glimmer of hope. Hope for new views, new life and probably even new identity. Even the narrator’s wife is surprised by the fact that her husband and Robert really get along together.

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Examples Of Judgement In Cathedral

566 Words | 3 Pages

The short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver depicts the judgement of a disable person. In the story the narrator judges his wife friend Robert for being blind. When the narrator found out that Robert was coming over he said, “My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed.

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The Narcissistic Narrator In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

910 Words | 4 Pages

Robert loves his wife and views her as his soulmate rather than a body to fill empty space. Robert’s physical blindness does not hold him back from feeling, while the narrator’s emotional lack of sight proves more

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Meeting The Blind Man In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

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We learn the blind man’s name is Robert upon meeting him and at first the narrator is a little hesitant toward Robert, not knowing what kind of questions to ask. The narrator asks what side of the bus Robert sat on, as though it mattered, but after a little the narrator warms up to him. While the three of them ate dinner, the narrator “watched [Robert] with admiration,” because he was amazed at how fluid everyday activities were for him (paragraph 45). In the beginning of the story, the narrator was very blunt, but we see that once he meets Robert, he starts to think a little before asking things. The narrator even seems slightly unsure about things when he answers questions.

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The Theme Of Blindness In 'Cathedral' By Raymond Carver

917 Words | 4 Pages

The narrator then understood the significant life lesson by saying “My eyes were still closed .I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything. It’s really something.” (Carver,

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First Impressions In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

490 Words | 2 Pages

Disabilities are made out to be this awful thing that has happened to someone, but it’s not. It’s a blessing in disguise because not only do you see, or in Robert’s case, experience the world in a different light, but you get to share your light among the rest of the people of the world. People with disabilities are even more disabled because of society, and the way they are looked down upon. As the reading goes on, it might be thought that the husband could even be jealous of the Robert because of the history his wife has with him, because early in the text, the narrator talks about how the blind man, Robert, “enjoyed her favors, and was her childhood sweetheart.”

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Epiphany In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

602 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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Analysis Of Raymond Carver's Cathedral

865 Words | 4 Pages

As the story develops, the narrator grows to like Robert, and as the story ends we see the two draw a cathedral together which allows the narrator see a new side of everything and allow for him to be more connected to the blind man and his wife. This plot is commonly seen in many different media’s, but it’s used more cleverly here, as it allows for characters to flow with the story while not sacrificing the story being mediocre. In saying this, the plot of this story is very character-centric and is vital to helping to advance the story. Within this story the character

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Raymond Carver Cathedral Summary

528 Words | 3 Pages

In his contemporary short story, “Cathedral,” Raymond Carver tells the story of an unnamed narrator, his wife, and an old friend, a blind man named Robert. Robert has come to visit the narrator’s wife, who is quite excited to see this man whom she hasn’t seen in ten years, yet the same can’t be said of the narrator who is noticeably and vocally uncomfortable about his visit. The story is told through the narrator’s first person point of view, showcasing his thoughts and the events that take place when Robert comes to visit. Carver highlights the theme of having the ability to see, but not truly seeing, through his use of colloquial language, and creation of relatable characters. “Cathedral” begins with the narrator informing the audience

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